Designed protein logic to target cells with precise combinations of surface antigens.
Lajoie, M.J., Boyken, S.E., Salter, A.I., Bruffey, J., Rajan, A., Langan, R.A., Olshefsky, A., Muhunthan, V., Bick, M.J., Gewe, M., Quijano-Rubio, A., Johnson, J., Lenz, G., Nguyen, A., Pun, S., Correnti, C.E., Riddell, S.R., Baker, D.(2020) Science 369: 1637-1643
- PubMed: 32820060 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba6527
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7JH5 - PubMed Abstract: 
Precise cell targeting is challenging because most mammalian cell types lack a single surface marker that distinguishes them from other cells. A solution would be to target cells using specific combinations of proteins present on their surfaces. In this study, we design colocalization-dependent protein switches (Co-LOCKR) that perform AND, OR, and NOT Boolean logic operations. These switches activate through a conformational change only when all conditions are met, generating rapid, transcription-independent responses at single-cell resolution within complex cell populations. We implement AND gates to redirect T cell specificity against tumor cells expressing two surface antigens while avoiding off-target recognition of single-antigen cells, and three-input switches that add NOT or OR logic to avoid or include cells expressing a third antigen. Thus, de novo designed proteins can perform computations on the surface of cells, integrating multiple distinct binding interactions into a single output.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. mlajoie@lyell.com dabaker@uw.edu.