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Cohen S, Chung S, Spiess C, Lundin V, Stefanich E, Laing ST, Clark V, Brumm J, Zhou Y, Huang C, Guerrero J, Myneni S, Yadav R, Siradze K, Peng K. An integrated approach for characterizing immunogenic responses toward a bispecific antibody. MAbs 2021; 13:1944017. [PMID: 34225571 PMCID: PMC8265794 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2021.1944017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) recognize and bind two different targets or two epitopes of the same antigen, making them an attractive diagnostic and treatment modality. Compared to the production of conventional bivalent monospecific antibodies, bsAbs require greater engineering and manufacturing. Therefore, bsAbs are more likely to differ from endogenous immunoglobulins and contain new epitopes that can increase immunogenic risk. Anti-A/B is a bsAb designed using a ‘knobs-into-holes’ (KIH) format. Anti-A/B exhibited an unexpectedly high immunogenicity in both preclinical and clinical studies, resulting in early termination of clinical development. Here, we used an integrated approach that combined in silico analysis, in vitro assays, and an in vivo study in non-human primates to characterize anti-A/B immunogenicity. Our findings indicated that the immunogenicity is associated with epitopes in the anti-B arm and not with mutations engineered through the KIH process. Our results showed the value of this integrated approach for performing immunogenicity risk assessment during clinical candidate selection to effectively mitigate risks during bsAb development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sivan Cohen
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Shan Chung
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Christoph Spiess
- Department of Antibody Engineering, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Victor Lundin
- Department of Protein Analytical Chemistry, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Steven T Laing
- Department of Safety Assessment, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Vanessa Clark
- Department of Safety Assessment, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jochen Brumm
- Department of Biostatistics, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ying Zhou
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Catherine Huang
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Joyce Guerrero
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Srividya Myneni
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Ketevan Siradze
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Kun Peng
- Department of BioAnalytical Sciences, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, CA, USA
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Trastuzumab immunogenicity development in patients' sera and in laboratory animals. BMC Immunol 2021; 22:15. [PMID: 33607941 PMCID: PMC7893875 DOI: 10.1186/s12865-021-00405-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Immunogenicity is a major challenge in drug development and patient care. Clinicians and regulators are familiar with immunogenicity concerns of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics, growth factors and enzyme replacements. Although most small therapeutic molecules are unlikely to trigger undesirable immunogenic responses against themselves upon their administration, the biological therapeutic agents are likely to induce such kind of immunogenicity. This imparts a problem that has to be considered upon judging their risk–benefit ratio. In this article, we tested the immunogenicity developed in patients’ sera due to the use of trastuzumab and that developed in laboratory animals injected with this recombinant humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody. Methods We studied trastuzumab immunogenicity by: I in vitro detection of anti-trastuzumab antibody (Ab) levels in patient’s serum samples withdrawn at different points during trastuzumab treatment course; I.1 using an Affinity Capture Elution (ACE) assay, the assay is both sensitive and highly tolerant to free drug; I.2 using MTT cytotoxicity method against MCF-7 cell line as confirmatory method used in sample showed high level of anti-trastuzumab Ab and to determine neutralizing activity of the anti-trastuzumab Ab. II in vivo immunogenicity testing of trastuzumab in lab animals. Results In vitro analysis of patients’ sera for antibodies developed against trastuzumab revealed that this monoclonal antibody has low immunogenicity since most samples showed low levels of anti-trastuzumab antibodies that decreased progressively along the treatment course. Only 1% of samples showed high levels of anti-trastuzumab antibodies which might affect treatment course. In vivo immunogenicity testing in mice showed also low immunogenicity of trastuzumab that could support the in vitro clinical assessment applied in our study. Conclusions The study gives an evidence for the low trastuzumab immunogenicity when assessed in Egyptian patients under treatment with this biological therapeutic agent. This supports its prescription and continuous use across the approved indications as biological therapeutic agent.
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Kovalova N, Boyles J, Wen Y, Witcher DR, Brown-Augsburger PL, Wroblewski VJ, Chlewicki LK. Validation of a de-immunization strategy for monoclonal antibodies using cynomolgus macaque as a surrogate for human. Biopharm Drug Dispos 2020; 41:111-125. [PMID: 32080869 DOI: 10.1002/bdd.2222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The immunogenicity of biotherapeutics presents a major challenge during the clinical development of new protein drugs including monoclonal antibodies. To address this, multiple humanization and de-immunization techniques that employ in silico algorithms and in vitro test systems have been proposed and implemented. However, the success of these approaches has been variable and to date, the ability of these techniques to predict immunogenicity has not been systematically tested in humans or other primates. This study tested whether antibody humanization and de-immunization strategies reduce the risk of anti-drug antibody (ADA) development using cynomolgus macaque as a surrogate for human. First human-cyno chimeric antibodies were constructed by grafting the variable domains of the adalimumab and golimumab monoclonal antibodies onto cynomolgus macaque IgG1 and Igκ constant domains followed by framework germlining to cyno to reduce the xenogenic content. Next, B and T cell epitopes and aggregation-prone regions were identified using common in silico methods to select domains with an ADA risk for additional modification. The resultant engineered antibodies had a comparable affinity for TNFα, demonstrated similar biophysical properties, and exhibited significantly reduced ADA levels in cynomolgus macaque compared with the parental antibodies, with a corresponding improvement in the pharmacokinetic profile. Notably, plasma concentrations of the engineered antibodies were quantifiable through 504 hours (chimeric) and 840 hours (germlined/de-immunized), compared with only 336 hours (adalimumab) or 336-672 hours (golimumab). The results point to the significant value in the investment in these engineering strategies as an important guide for monoclonal antibody optimization that can contribute to improved clinical outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Kovalova
- Department of Drug Disposition, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Jeffrey Boyles
- Biotechnology Discovery Research, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Technology Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Yi Wen
- Lilly Biotechnology Center, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Derrick R Witcher
- Biotechnology Discovery Research, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Technology Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Patricia L Brown-Augsburger
- Department of Drug Disposition, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | | | - Lukasz K Chlewicki
- Department of Drug Disposition, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
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