Identification of a clinically efficacious CAR T cell subset by dynamic multi-dimensional single-cell profiling

Adoptive immunotherapy with T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for B-cell malignancies serves as a model for identifying subsets with superior clinical activity. We profiled the infusion products (IP) of 9 patients with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) using scRNA-sequencing to reveal the therapeutic potential of CD19-specific CAR+ T cells. ScRNA-seq demonstrated that T cells from responders were enriched in pathways related to T-cell killing, migration and actin cytoskeleton, and TCR clustering. Using a modified transwell assay, migratory and unmigratory CD19-CD28z-CAR T cells from two healthy donors were analyzed using scRNA sequencing.