Journal: Nature Communications
Article Title: AI-guided CAR designs and targeted pathway modulation to enhance multi-antigen CAR T cell durability and overcome antigen escape
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-68272-5
Figure Lengend Snippet: a Pathway analysis of proteins involved in AKT3 interaction, modifications or regulation of its expression with emphasis on FOXO4. b Relative mRNA expression levels (normalized to beta actin; ACTB) of key genes show upregulation of FOXO4 mRNA in b20/19-AKT3 PROTAC CAR T ( n = 6 biologically independent samples). c Flow cytometry histograms of total FOXO4 and phosphorylated FOXO4 (p-FOXO4) in CAR T cells after TR with RajiCD19 −/− cells. d Histogram analysis of the flow cytometry plots ( n = 10 biologically independent samples). e Bar graph shows the percentage of CD8 + CAR T cells expressing different phenotypes. Pie charts illustrate the proportional distribution of these subsets across conditions ( n = 5 biologically independent samples). f Survival of CAR T cells over 15 days under various conditions ( n = 4 biologically independent samples). g Violin plots showing the percentage of mTOR activity (% mTOR activity) in various conditions, with shRNA based FOXO4 knockdown elevated mTOR activity ( n = 6 biologically independent samples). h Bar plots show the percentage of MFI of autophagy from autophagic flux assay ( n = 8 data points from three independent experiments). i Dot plot showing ECAR in NTP PROTAC+Scram , NTP PROTAC+shFOXO4 , AKT3 PROTAC+Scram , and AKT3 PROTAC+shFOXO4 conditions, with FOXO4 knockdown increasing shift from OXPHOS to glycolysis ( n = 12 data points from three independent experiments). j Similarly, OCR with FOXO4 knockdown decreases mitochondrial respiration. Individual data points are shown for each condition ( n = 12 data points from three independent experiments). k Box-and-whisker plot showing percentage of expression of CD19 (yellow), CD20 (blue), and CD22 (purple) across 129 ALL patient samples, with varying expression levels for each marker ( n = 63 patient samples). l Bar graph showing the number of patient samples categorized as Negative/Dim, Moderate, or Bright for CD19, CD20, and CD22 expression. m Schematic illustration of K562 WT and CD20 expressing K562 stable cells transduced with different MOIs to obtain three populations: CD20 L (low), CD20 M (medium), and CD20 H (high), which were further FACS sorted. Created in BioRender. Chauhan, V. (2025) https://BioRender.com/uj3gas6 . n Violin plots showing the percentage of CD20 expression (% CD20 expression) in the sorted CD20-expressing K562 cell populations, confirming distinct expression levels ( n = 10 data flow cytometry points from three independent experiments). o Representative super-resolution microscopy images of differential CD20 surface expression in K562 cells. Images show CD20 (red) in K562-CD20 L (low), K562-CD20 M (medium), and K562-CD20 H (high) cell. p–r Survival curves of K562 cells expressing varying CD20 expression levels under CAR T cell treatments. The line graph shows the percentage of CD20 + cell survival when treated with Rituximab-based monospecific CAR (Rtx-m20, dark green), in-house humanized anti-CD20 CAR (AB21-m20, green) ( n = 4 biologically independent samples). s Survival of CAR T cells with varying CD20-targeting CAR constructs over 15 days ( n = 5). Data represents mean ± SEM. **** p < 0.001. A nonparametric t-test was used for statistical analysis between groups. For e , f and s , a Two-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc testing was applied. Scale bar: 5 μm. Source data are provided as a file.
Article Snippet: Briefly, CD19, CD22 CAR expression was evaluated using CD19 and CD22 CAR detection reagents (Miltenyi Biotec, #130-129-550, #130-126-727) and CD20 CAR expression was evaluated using Protein L-APC (CST #29480) or biotinylated anti CD20 antibody (Acro biosystems) followed by PE-conjugated anti-biotin secondary antibodies (Miltenyi Biotec, #130-110-951).
Techniques: Expressing, Flow Cytometry, Activity Assay, shRNA, Knockdown, Flux Assay, Whisker Assay, Marker, Transduction, Super-Resolution Microscopy, Construct