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Broad use of CRISPR-Cas12a (formerly Cpf1) nucleases1 has been hindered by the requirement for an extended TTTV protospacer adjacent motif (PAM)2. To address this limitation,we engineered an enhanced Acidaminococcus sp. Cas12a variant (enAsCas12a) that has a substantially expanded targeting range,enabling targeting of many previously inaccessible PAMs. On average,enAsCas12a exhibits a twofold higher genome editing activity on sites with canonical TTTV PAMs compared to wild-type AsCas12a,and we successfully grafted a subset of mutations from enAsCas12a onto other previously described AsCas12a variants3 to enhance their activities. enAsCas12a improves the efficiency of multiplex gene editing,endogenous gene activation and C-to-T base editing,and we engineered a high-fidelity version of enAsCas12a (enAsCas12a-HF1) to reduce off-target effects. Both enAsCas12a and enAsCas12a-HF1 function in HEK293T and primary human T cells when delivered as ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes. Collectively,enAsCas12a provides an optimized version of Cas12a that should enable wider application of Cas12a enzymes for gene and epigenetic editing. View Publication

Development of targeted cancer therapy requires a thorough understanding of mechanisms of tumorigenesis as well as mechanisms of action of therapeutics. This is challenging because by the time patients are diagnosed with cancer,early events of tumorigenesis have already taken place. Similarly,development of cancer immunotherapies is hampered by a lack of appropriate small animal models with autologous human tumor and immune system. In this article,we report the development of a mouse model of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with autologous immune system for studying early events of human leukemogenesis and testing the efficacy of immunotherapeutics. To develop such a model,human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) are transduced with lentiviruses expressing a mutated form of nucleophosmin (NPM1),referred to as NPM1c. Following engraftment into immunodeficient mice,transduced HSPCs give rise to human myeloid leukemia,whereas untransduced HSPCs give rise to human immune cells in the same mice. The de novo AML,with CD123+ leukemic stem or initiating cells (LSC),resembles NPM1c+ AML from patients. Transcriptional analysis of LSC and leukemic cells confirms similarity of the de novo leukemia generated in mice with patient leukemia and suggests Myc as a co-operating factor in NPM1c-driven leukemogenesis. We show that a bispecific conjugate that binds both CD3 and CD123 eliminates CD123+ LSCs in a T cell-dependent manner both in vivo and in vitro. These results demonstrate the utility of the NPM1c+ AML model with an autologous immune system for studying early events of human leukemogenesis and for evaluating efficacy and mechanism of immunotherapeutics. View Publication

Acute inflammatory bowel disease (AIBD) is a wide clinical entity including severe gastrointestinal pathologies with common histopathological basis. Epidemiologically increasing diseases,such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC),gastrointestinal graft versus host disease (GVHD),and the primary acute phase of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (CIBD),exhibit a high necessity for new therapeutic strategies. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) cellular therapy represents a promising option for the treatment of these diseases. In our study,we comparatively assess the efficacy of human MSCs derived from bone marrow (BM),umbilical cord blood (UCB),human embryonic stem cells (ESCs),or human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in a mouse model of chemically induced acute enterocolitis. The laboratory animals were provided ad libitum potable dextrane sulfate sodium solution (DSS) in order to reproduce an AIBD model and then individually exposed intraperitoneally to MSCs derived from BM (BM-MSCs),UCB (UCB-MSCs),ESCs (ESC-MSCs),or iPSCs (iPSC-MSCs). The parameters used to evaluate the cellular treatment efficacy were the animal survival prolongation and the histopathological-macroscopic picture of bowel sections. Although all categories of mesenchymal stem cells led to statistically significant survival prolongation compared to the control group,significant clinical and histopathological improvement was observed only in mice receiving BM-MSCs and UCB-MSCs. Our results demonstrated that the in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of ESC-MSCs and iPSC-MSCs was inferior to that of UCB-MSCs and BM-MSCs. Further investigation will clarify the potential of ESCs and iPSC-derived MSCs in AIBD treatment. View Publication

Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived intestinal organoids (hIOs) form 3D structures organized into crypt and villus domains,making them an excellent in vitro model system for studying human intestinal development and disease. However,hPSC-derived hIOs still require in vivo maturation to fully recapitulate adult intestine,with the mechanism of maturation remaining elusive. Here,we show that the co-culture with human T lymphocytes induce the in vitro maturation of hIOs,and identify STAT3-activating interleukin-2 (IL-2) as the major factor inducing maturation. hIOs exposed to IL-2 closely mimic the adult intestinal epithelium and have comparable expression levels of mature intestinal markers,as well as increased intestine-specific functional activities. Even after in vivo engraftment,in vitro-matured hIOs retain their maturation status. The results of our study demonstrate that STAT3 signaling can induce the maturation of hIOs in vitro,thereby circumventing the need for animal models and in vivo maturation. View Publication

In the inner ear,endolymph fluid surrounds the organ of Corti,which is important for auditory function; notably,even slight environmental changes mediated by trauma or infection can have significant consequences. However,it is unclear how the immune response is modulated in these tissues. Here,we report the local immune surveillance role of cleaved cochlin LCCL (Limulus factor C,Cochlin,and Lgl1) during Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in the cochlea. Upon infection,the LCCL domain is cleaved from cochlin and secreted into the perilymph. This cleaved fragment sequesters infiltrating bacteria in the scala tympani and subsequently recruits resident immune cells to eliminate the bacteria. Importantly,hearing loss in a cochlin knockout mouse model is remedied by treatment with a cochlin LCCL peptide. These findings suggest cleaved cochlin LCCL constitutes a critical factor in innate immunity and auditory function and may be a potential therapeutic target to treat chronic otitis media-induced hearing loss. View Publication

CD4 T cells play a critical role in promoting the development of autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes. The diabetogenic CD4 T cell clone BDC-2.5,originally isolated from a NOD mouse,has been widely used to study the contribution of autoreactive CD4 T cells and relevant Ags to autoimmune diabetes. Recent work from our laboratory has shown that the Ag for BDC-2.5 T cells is a hybrid insulin peptide (2.5HIP) consisting of an insulin C-peptide fragment fused to a peptide from chromogranin A (ChgA) and that endogenous 2.5HIP-reactive T cells are major contributors to autoimmune pathology in NOD mice. The objective of this study was to determine if poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with the 2.5HIP Ag (2.5HIP-coupled PLG NPs) can tolerize BDC-2.5 T cells. Infusion of 2.5HIP-coupled PLG NPs was found to prevent diabetes in an adoptive transfer model by impairing the ability of BDC-2.5 T cells to produce proinflammatory cytokines through induction of anergy,leading to an increase in the ratio of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells to IFN-gamma+ effector T cells. To our knowledge,this work is the first to use a hybrid insulin peptide,or any neoepitope,to re-educate diabetogenic T cells and may have significant implications for the development of an Ag-specific therapy for type 1 diabetes patients. View Publication

Background/Aim Although IL-6-mediated activation of the signal transduction and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) axis is involved in inflammation and cancer,the role of STAT3 in Helicobacter-associated gastric inflammation and carcinogenesis is unclear. This study investigated the role of STAT3 in gastric inflammation and carcinogenesis and examined the molecular mechanism of Helicobacter-induced gastric phenotypes. Methods To evaluate the contribution of STAT3 to gastric inflammation and carcinogenesis,we used wild-type (WT) and gastric epithelial conditional Stat3-knockout (Stat3Deltagec ) mice. Mice were infected with Helicobacter felis and euthanized at 18 months postinfection. Mouse gastric organoids were treated with recombinant IL-6 (rIL-6) or rIL-11 and a JAK inhibitor (JAKi) to assess the role of IL-6/STAT3 signaling in vitro. Results Inflammation and mucous metaplasia were more severe in WT mice than in Stat3Deltagec mice. The epithelial cell proliferation rate and STAT3 activation were increased in WT mice. Application of rIL-6 and rIL-11 induced expression of intestinal metaplasia-associated genes,such as Tff2; this induction was suppressed by JAKi administration. Conclusions Loss of STAT3 signaling in the gastric mucosa leads to decreased epithelial cell proliferation,atrophy,and metaplasia in the setting of Helicobacter infection. Therefore,activation of STAT3 signaling may play a key role in Helicobacter-associated gastric carcinogenesis. View Publication

The maintenance of homeostasis in the gut is a major challenge for the immune system. Here we demonstrate that the transcription factor MAF plays a central role in T cells for the prevention of gastro-intestinal inflammation. Conditional knock out mice lacking Maf in all T cells developed spontaneous late-onset colitis,correlating with a decrease of FOXP3+RORgammat+ T cells proportion,dampened IL-10 production in the colon and an increase of inflammatory TH17 cells. Strikingly,FOXP3+ specific conditional knock out mice for MAF did not develop colitis and demonstrated normal levels of IL-10 in their colon,despite the incapacity of regulatory T cells lacking MAF to suppress colon inflammation in Rag1-/- mice transferred with na{\{i}}ve CD4+ T cells. We showed that one of the cellular sources of IL-10 in the colon of these mice are TH17 cells. Thus MAF is critically involved in the maintenance of the gut homeostasis by regulating the balance between Treg and TH17 cells either at the level of their differentiation or through the modulation of their functions." View Publication

Acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) is a high-risk leukemia of poorly understood genetic basis,with controversy regarding diagnosis in the spectrum of myelodysplasia and myeloid leukemia. We compared genomic features of 159 childhood and adult AEL cases with non-AEL myeloid disorders and defined five age-related subgroups with distinct transcriptional profiles: adult,TP53 mutated; NPM1 mutated; KMT2A mutated/rearranged; adult,DDX41 mutated; and pediatric,NUP98 rearranged. Genomic features influenced outcome,with NPM1 mutations and HOXB9 overexpression being associated with a favorable prognosis and TP53,FLT3 or RB1 alterations associated with poor survival. Targetable signaling mutations were present in 45{\%} of cases and included recurrent mutations of ALK and NTRK1,the latter of which drives erythroid leukemogenesis sensitive to TRK inhibition. This genomic landscape of AEL provides the framework for accurate diagnosis and risk stratification of this disease,and the rationale for testing targeted therapies in this high-risk leukemia. View Publication

Reactivation of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is being pursued as a treatment strategy for hemoglobinopathies. Here,we evaluated the therapeutic potential of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) edited with the CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease platform to recapitulate naturally occurring mutations identified in individuals who express increased amounts of HbF,a condition known as hereditary persistence of HbF. CRISPR-Cas9 treatment and transplantation of HSPCs purified on the basis of surface expression of the CD34 receptor in a nonhuman primate (NHP) autologous transplantation model resulted in up to 30{\%} engraftment of gene-edited cells for >1 year. Edited cells effectively and stably reactivated HbF,as evidenced by up to 18{\%} HbF-expressing erythrocytes in peripheral blood. Similar results were obtained by editing highly enriched stem cells,defined by the markers CD34+CD90+CD45RA-,allowing for a 10-fold reduction in the number of transplanted target cells,thus considerably reducing the need for editing reagents. The frequency of engrafted,gene-edited cells persisting in vivo using this approach may be sufficient to ameliorate the phenotype for a number of genetic diseases. View Publication