Acoustogenetic Control of CAR T Cells via Focused Ultrasound

Abstract

Optogenetics can control specific molecular events in living systems, but the penetration depth of light is typically limited at hundreds of micrometers. Focused ultrasound (FUS), on the other hand, can deliver energy safely and noninvasively into tissues at depths of centimeters. Here we have developed an acoustogenetic approach using short-pulsed FUS to remotely and directly control the genetics and cellular functions of engineered mammalian cells for therapeutic purposes. We applied this acoustogenetic approach to control chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells with high spatiotemporal precision, aiming to mitigate the potentially lethal "on-target off-tumor" effects of CAR T cell therapy. We first verified the controllability of our acoustogenetic CAR T cells in recognizing and killing tumor cells in vitro, and then applied this approach in vivo to suppress tumor growth of both lymphoma and prostate cancers. The results indicate that FUS-based acoustogenetics can allow the noninvasive and remote activation, without any exogenous cofactor, of different types of CAR T cells for cancer therapeutics.