Optimization of culture conditions for activation and large-scale expansion of human T lymphocytes for bispecific antibody-directed cellular immunotherapy.

We investigated the optimal culture conditions (i.e., activation procedure, medium composition and type of culture vessel) for rapid in vitro expansion of large numbers (greater than 5 x 10(9) of blood T lymphocytes. These expanded lymphocytes can be targeted to be cytotoxic to ovarian carcinoma cells with a bispecific monoclonal antibody (BsAb) specific for CD3 and for the ovarian carcinoma-associated antigen MOv18. Both phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and monoclonal antibody (MAb) CD3 induced rapid T-cell proliferation, although the growth kinetics after PHA activation were slightly faster. A 50-fold increase in cell number was obtained after 14 and 16 days for PHA and CD3 MAb, respectively. The induction of BsAb-directed cytolysis was faster after CD3 MAb than after PHA activation of lymphocytes, but became similar around day 20. A mixture of media consisting of 78% RPMI 1640, 20% AIM-V and 2% human plasma (Mix-med) yielded better results than 100% AIM-V medium. Culture of lymphocytes in polyolefin bags, compared with tissue culture flasks, or cryopreservation did not affect lymphocyte yield and function. In most cultures the proportion of CD8+ lymphocytes increased, suggesting a growth advantage of CD8+ over CD4+ lymphocytes in this culture system. A protocol employing PHA activation, Mix-med and polyolefin bags has been used successfully to activate and expand blood lymphocytes for the first 5 patients entered into a phase-I/II clinical trial for the intraperitoneal treatment of ovarian carcinoma using CD3 x anti-MOv18 BsAb-directed T lymphocytes.