Smith-specific regulatory T cells halt the progression of lupus nephritis

Antigen-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress pathogenic autoreactivity and are potential therapeutic candidates for autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Lupus nephritis is associated with autoreactivity to the Smith (Sm) autoantigen and the human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR15 haplotype; hence, we investigated the potential of Sm-specific Tregs (Sm-Tregs) to suppress disease. We identified a novel HLA-DR15 restricted immunodominant Sm T cell epitope using biophysical affinity binding assays, then identified high-affinity Sm-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) using high-throughput single-cell sequencing. Using lentiviral vectors, we transduced our lead Sm-specific TCR onto Tregs derived from patients with SLE who were anti-Sm and HLA-DR15 positive. Compared with polyclonal mock-transduced Tregs, Sm-Tregs potently suppressed Sm-specific pro-inflammatory responses in vitro and suppressed disease progression in a humanized mouse model of lupus nephritis. These results show that Sm-Tregs are a promising therapy for SLE. Overall design: Co-cultures of human CD4+ T cells and mature dendritic cells pulsed with SmB/B'58-72 were FACS sorted based on CD4+ and CellTrace dye dilution to sort the proliferated T cells. After FACS sorting cells underwent 10x scRNASeq