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Zerra PE, Parker ET, Baldwin WH, Healey JF, Patel SR, McCoy JW, Cox C, Stowell SR, Meeks SL. Engineering a Therapeutic Protein to Enhance the Study of Anti-Drug Immunity. Biomedicines 2022; 10:1724. [PMID: 35885029 PMCID: PMC9313379 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10071724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of anti-drug antibodies represents a significant barrier to the utilization of protein-based therapies for a wide variety of diseases. While the rate of antibody formation can vary depending on the therapeutic employed and the target patient population receiving the drug, the antigen-specific immune response underlying the development of anti-drug antibodies often remains difficult to define. This is especially true for patients with hemophilia A who, following exposure, develop antibodies against the coagulation factor, factor VIII (FVIII). Models capable of studying this response in an antigen-specific manner have been lacking. To overcome this challenge, we engineered FVIII to contain a peptide (323-339) from the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA), a very common tool used to study antigen-specific immunity. FVIII with an OVA peptide (FVIII-OVA) retained clotting activity and possessed the ability to activate CD4 T cells specific to OVA323-339 in vitro. When compared to FVIII alone, FVIII-OVA also exhibited a similar level of immunogenicity, suggesting that the presence of OVA323-339 does not substantially alter the anti-FVIII immune response. Intriguingly, while little CD4 T cell response could be observed following exposure to FVIII-OVA alone, inclusion of anti-FVIII antibodies, recently shown to favorably modulate anti-FVIII immune responses, significantly enhanced CD4 T cell activation following FVIII-OVA exposure. These results demonstrate that model antigens can be incorporated into a therapeutic protein to study antigen-specific responses and more specifically that the CD4 T cell response to FVIII-OVA can be augmented by pre-existing anti-FVIII antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia E. Zerra
- Center for Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapies, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (P.E.Z.); (J.W.M.)
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Ernest T. Parker
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Wallace Hunter Baldwin
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - John F. Healey
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Seema R. Patel
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - James W. McCoy
- Center for Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapies, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (P.E.Z.); (J.W.M.)
| | - Courtney Cox
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Sean R. Stowell
- Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Shannon L. Meeks
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; (E.T.P.); (W.H.B.); (J.F.H.); (S.R.P.); (C.C.)
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