News Release

New checkpoint gene demonstrates ability to supercharge immune cells against cancer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Minnesota Medical School

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (09/13/2022) — University of Minnesota researchers and their collaborators at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) investigated the role of a new intracellular checkpoint gene in regulating T-cell function against solid tumors. Known as CISH, the team published results in Med, a Cell Press journal, that show the checkpoint gene plays a key role in suppressing the ability of human T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. 

When CISH is disabled, T-cells more effectively recognize mutated proteins produced by tumors. CISH inhibition also preserved T-cell fitness and made T-cells more responsive to existing checkpoint therapies, suggesting a new avenue to make breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy. 

“It is a true bench-to-bedside story that is currently being deployed in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancer who have exhausted virtually all other treatment options,” said Beau Webber, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and member of the Masonic Cancer Center. “We are applying what we found in the lab to patients seeking care for gastrointestinal cancer.”

As CISH resides within the cell, it cannot be inhibited using antibody blockades in the same way that other checkpoint molecules have been targeted. To overcome this challenge, the research team led by University faculty Branden Moriarity, PhD, and Dr. Webber utilized CRISPR gene editing — a process of cutting a DNA sequence to delete and insert other sequences — to safely and effectively knockout the CISH gene in human T-cells. This process robustly enhanced T-cells’ ability to recognize and kill tumor cells, and served as the preclinical basis for the first-in-human clinical trial using CRISPR engineered T cells at the University of Minnesota — only the second CRISPR clinical trial authorized by the Food and Drug Administration at the time.

“This work is the culmination of a tremendous, multidisciplinary effort encompassing basic mechanistic immune biology, cutting-edge techniques in genome editing, and the latest advancements in adoptive cellular immunotherapy,” said Dr. Webber.

Gene editing offers a powerful new tool that allows researchers to hard-wire checkpoint inhibition into the specific immune cells that are fighting the tumor, thereby accelerating clinical translation of new approaches. Intracellular checkpoint genes, like CISH, are of particular interest because they offer a new avenue to enhance immune cell function against cancer.  

The research team continues its ongoing clinical trial and is conducting correlative studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CISH edited tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. They are also investigating additional strategies to further improve the function of engineered immune cells against solid cancers. 

Funding was provided by Intima Bioscience and the Intramural program CCR at NCI.. 

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Link to video highlighting the clinical trial that resulted from this work.

About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School, both the Twin Cities campus and Duluth campus, is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. For more information about the U of M Medical School, please visit med.umn.edu

About the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
The Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, is the Twin Cities’ only Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated ‘Outstanding’ by the National Cancer Institute. As Minnesota’s Cancer Center, we have served the entire state for more than 30 years. Our researchers, educators, and care providers have worked to discover the causes, prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer and cancer-related diseases. Learn more at cancer.umn.edu.


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