Conclusions

Strategies that enhance the function of T cells are criti-cal for immunotherapy. Methods Here we described for the first time a non-viral mediated approach to reprogram primary human T cells by disruption of PD-1. Results We showed that the gene knockout of PD-1 by electro-poration of plasmids encoding sgRNA and Cas9 was tech-nically feasible. The disruption of PD-1 resulted in significant reduction of PD-1 expression but didn’t affect the viability of primary human T cells. Cellular immune response of the gene modified T cells was characterized by up-regulated IFN-g production and enhanced cytotoxicity