Mutated SEA-D227A-conjugated antibodies greatly enhance antitumor activity against MUC1-expressing bile duct carcinoma

Superantigens, a Paradox of the Immune Response

Staphylococcal enterotoxins are a wide family of bacterial exotoxins with the capacity to activate as much as 20% of the host T cells, which is why they were called superantigens. Superantigens (SAgs) can cause multiple diseases in humans and cattle, ranging from mild to life-threatening infections. Almost all S. aureus isolates encode at least one of these toxins, though there is no complete knowledge about how their production is triggered. One of the main problems with the available evidence for these toxins is that most studies have been conducted with a few superantigens; however, the resulting characteristics are attributed to the whole group. Although these toxins share homology and a two-domain structure organization, the similarity ratio varies from 20 to 89% among different SAgs, implying wide heterogeneity. Furthermore, every attempt to structurally classify these proteins has failed to answer differential biological functionalities. Taking these concerns into account, it might not be appropriate to extrapolate all the information that is currently available to every staphylococcal SAg. Here, we aimed to gather the available information about all staphylococcal SAgs, considering their functions and pathogenicity, their ability to interact with the immune system as well as their capacity to be used as immunotherapeutic agents, resembling the two faces of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Construction and characterization of a novel superantigen fusion protein: bFGF/SEB

BACKGROUND

As one of the bacterial superantigens, Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) are potent activators of T cells, especially for those expressing T cell receptor V(beta) chains, and can induce the production of cytokines such as IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-12, etc. Thus, SEs could be used in tumor-targeting therapy when cooperated with the vectors that can specifically recognize the tumor cells.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The coding sequences of Staphylococcal enterotxin B (SEB) was amplified and fused with human basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Recombinant protein SEB and fusion protein bFGF/SEB were expressed and purified. The biological activity was detected, including splenocytes proliferation, cytokine production, and cytotoxicity in tumor cells in vitro. In addition, the binding of bFGF/SEB with tumor cells and the tumor cell apoptosis were also tested by immunofluorescent technique.

RESULTS

The fusion protein bFGF/SEB had similar biological activities compared with natural SEA and recombinant SEB, including tumor-inhibition ratio.

CONCLUSION

The recombinant bFGF/SEB-fusion protein was shown to retain the superantigenic activity of SEB, and might be a novel promising immunotherapeutic agent for the treatment of some carcinomas.

Humanization of the bispecific epidermal growth factor receptor x CD3 diabody and its efficacy as a potential clinical reagent

PURPOSE

Bispecific antibodies (BsAb) have been exploited as both cancer immunodiagnostics and cancer therapeutics and show promise in clinical trials of cancer imaging and therapy. For development of BsAbs as clinical reagents, we have focused on construction of small recombinant BsAbs, called bispecific diabodies. Here, we constructed and characterized a humanized bispecific diabody.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

We have reported significant antitumor activity of an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) x anti-CD3 bispecific diabody (Ex3) in in vitro cytotoxicity assays and in vivo. We humanized the Ex3 diabody (hEx3) by grafting the complementarity-determining region and compared its biological properties with those of Ex3. We also tested its physiologic stability and ability to alter survival in xenografted mice.

RESULTS

The final yield of hEx3 was 10 times that of Ex3, and refolded hEx3 and Ex3 showed identical binding profiles in EGFR-positive cell lines and EGFR-transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells. hEx3 showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity to EGFR-positive cell lines, which could be specifically inhibited by parental monoclonal antibody IgGs against EGFR or CD3 antigens. The heterodimeric structure was retained in PBS for 6 months, and growth inhibition was maintained after incubation under physiologic conditions. Coadministration of hEx3 with T-LAK cells and interleukin-2 prolonged the survival of nude mice with human colon carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

The humanized diabody hEx3 is an attractive molecule for cancer therapy and may provide important insights into the development of EGFR-based cancer-targeting reagents.

Recombinant antibodies for cancer diagnosis and therapy

Recombinant antibodies currently represent over 30% of biopharmaceuticals in clinical trials, highlighted by the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of Zevalin(TM) (ibritumomab-tiuxetan; IDEC Pharmaceuticals, San Dieago, CA, USA) for cancer radioimmunotherapy and Humira(TM) (adalimumab; Abbott Laboratories, IL, USA) for rheumatoid arthritis. Together, these FDA approvals have excited the biotechnology industry, particularly since sales of recombinant antibodies are increasing rapidly to a predicted US dollar 4 billion per annum worldwide in 2003. To date, 10 engineered therapeutic antibodies have gained FDA approval and many others are in Phase III trials. Many recent FDA-approved antibodies are simple molecular designs that have taken 10 years to be developed into effective therapeutic reagents. Emerging new technologies have created a vast range of recombinant, antibody-based reagents, which specifically target clinical biomarkers of disease. Radiolabelling of antibodies has increased their potential for cancer imaging and targeting. Recombinant antibodies have also been reduced in size and rebuilt into multivalent molecules for higher affinity. In addition, antibodies have been fused with many molecules, including toxins, enzymes, drugs and viruses, for prodrug therapy, cancer treatment and gene delivery. Recombinant antibody technology has enabled clever manipulations in the construction of complex in vitro libraries for the selection of high-affinity reagents against refractory targets. Furthermore, innovative affinity maturation methods have been developed which enable rapid selection of extremely high-affinity reagents. This review focuses on developments in the last 12 months and describes the latest developments in the design, production and clinical use of recombinant antibodies for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Specific and effective targeting cancer immunotherapy with a combination of three bispecific antibodies

For the purpose of establishing a new adoptive immunotherapy for bile duct carcinoma (BDC), we previously constructed two kinds of bispecific antibodies (bsAbs), anti-MUC1 x anti-CD3 (M x 3) and anti-MUC1 x anti-CD28 (M x 28), which activate T cells and form bridges between them and MUC1-expressing tumor cells. In our previous studies [Cancer Res. 56 (1996) 4205] specific targeting therapy (STT) consisting of i.v. administration of lymphokine activated killer cells with a T cell phenotype (T-LAK) sensitized with two kinds of bsAbs to human BDC-grafted severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice demonstrated remarkable inhibition of tumor growth. However, complete cures could not be obtained. In order to improve antitumor efficacy, we have paid attention to anti-CD2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), thought to play an important roles in signal transduction in T cell activation or control of T cell receptor (TCR)-driven activation. Therefore, we developed another bsAb, anti-MUC1 x anti-CD2 (M x 2), in order to examine if this would show synergism with the two previously described bsAbs. The combination of the three bsAbs (M x 3, M x 28 and M x 2 bsAbs) showed highest cytotoxicity against MUC1-expressing BDC cells when given simultaneously with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or T-LAK cells in vitro. When 2 x 10(7) T-LAK cells sensitized with different combinations of bsAbs were administered four times i.v. to BDC-grafted SCID mice, the best therapeutic result was obtained with a combination of all three bsAbs. These results indicate usefulness of combination of three bsAbs for targeting cancer immunotherapy.