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

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Blood
Published
2026-03-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2025031897
Primary Topic
CAR-T cell therapy research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

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

Jessica D. Kepple, Waywen Loh, A. Waage, Johanna Olweus et al.
Blood
CAR-T cell therapy research
article

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

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

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.

Blood
Oslo University Hospital (NO), Baylor College of Medicine (US), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO), University of Oxford (GB), St Olav's University Hospital (NO), Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien (DE), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
European Commission, Novo Nordisk, Universitetet i Oslo, Norges Forskningsråd
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 37%
CAR-T cell therapy research
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