TCR T cells targeting IgA- and IgG-expressing multiple myeloma

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Authors: Karolos Douvlataniotis, Aleksei Titov, Julia Zeun, Merve Bilici, Heyilimu Palashati, Waywen Loh, Even Holth Rustad, Weiwen Yang, Trung T Tran, Fridtjof Lund-Johansen, Ravi Chand Bollineni, Jessica D. Kepple
+11 more Luis P. Huth, Ludvig André Munthe, Thorstein Boxaspen, Fredrik Schjesvold, A. Waage, Dimitrios L. Wagner, Katherine R. Bull, Joanna Hester, Fadi Issa, Eirini Giannakopoulou, Johanna Olweus
Cited by: 1

Abstract

T cell-based therapies have shown remarkable efficacy in multiple myeloma (MM), yet the disease remains largely incurable. Here, we investigated the constant domains of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) as novel targets for therapeutic T cell receptors (TCRs), after confirming high and homogeneous IGH expression in >95% of MM patients. MM cells secrete excessive monoclonal immunoglobulins (M-proteins) that drive complications but are inaccessible to CAR T-cell or antibody targeting. Peptides from IgA and IgG constant regions were eluted from HLA-A*02:01, and reactive TCRs were isolated from healthy donors using allo-HLA-A*02:01 presentation to circumvent self-tolerance. T cells engineered with two TCRs specific for IgA or IgG passed a stringent multi-tier safety screen and selectively eliminated MM cells from 20 HLA-A*02:01+ patients secreting the relevant IgH in vitro. In vivo, IgA-TCR T cells eradicated IgA+HLA-A*02:01+ MM cells in xenograft models and reduced circulating IgA in humanized mice. These findings establish immunoglobulin constant domains as viable TCR targets in MM, potentially making ~40% of patients of European descent eligible for TCR T cell therapy, and extension to additional HLA alleles could further broaden eligibility. The approach may also be applicable to lymphoma and antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases.

Fields of Study & Subjects

CAR-T cell therapy research Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research Multiple Myeloma Research and Treatments

Publication details

Journal / source
Blood
Publisher
American Society of Hematology
Publication date
2 March 2026
Language
EN