Dynamic Imaging of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells with [18F]Tetrafluoroborate Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

• Published in: Journal of visualized experiments no. 180
• Main Authors: Sakemura, Reona, Cox, Michelle J, Bansal, Aditya, Roman, Claudia Manriquez, Hefazi, Mehrdad, Vernon, Cynthia J, Glynn, Dianna L, Pandey, Mukesh K, DeGrado, Timothy R, Siegler, Elizabeth L, Kenderian, Saad S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 17.02.2022
• Subjects: Humans; Immunotherapy, Adoptive - methods; Multiple Myeloma - diagnostic imaging; Multiple Myeloma - therapy; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography - methods; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - genetics; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen - genetics; T-Lymphocytes
• ISSN: 1940-087X; 1940-087X
• DOI: 10.3791/62334

T cells genetically engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) have shown unprecedented results in pivotal clinical trials for patients with B cell malignancies or multiple myeloma (MM). However, numerous obstacles limit the efficacy and prohibit the widespread use of CAR T cell therapies due to poor trafficking and infiltration into tumor sites as well as lack of persistence in vivo. Moreover, life-threatening toxicities, such as cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity, are major concerns. Efficient and sensitive imaging and tracking of CAR T cells enables the evaluation of T cell trafficking, expansion, and in vivo characterization and allows the development of strategies to overcome the current limitations of CAR T cell therapy. This paper describes the methodology for incorporating the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) in CAR T cells and for CAR T cell imaging using [ F]tetrafluoroborate-positron emission tomography ([ F]TFB-PET) in preclinical models. The methods described in this protocol can be applied to other CAR constructs and target genes in addition to the ones used for this study.