Formation of dimeric Fabs in Escherichia coli: effect of hinge size and isotype, presence of interchain disulphide bond, Fab' expression levels, tail piece sequences and growth conditions

Evolution of Escherichia coli Expression System in Producing Antibody Recombinant Fragments

Antibodies and antibody-derived molecules are continuously developed as both therapeutic agents and key reagents for advanced diagnostic investigations. Their application in these fields has indeed greatly expanded the demand of these molecules and the need for their production in high yield and purity. While full-length antibodies require mammalian expression systems due to the occurrence of functionally and structurally important glycosylations, most antibody fragments and antibody-like molecules are non-glycosylated and can be more conveniently prepared in E. coli-based expression platforms. We propose here an updated survey of the most effective and appropriate methods of preparation of antibody fragments that exploit E. coli as an expression background and review the pros and cons of the different platforms available today. Around 250 references accompany and complete the review together with some lists of the most important new antibody-like molecules that are on the market or are being developed as new biotherapeutics or diagnostic agents.

Alternative antibody Fab′ fragment PEGylation strategies: combination of strong reducing agents, disruption of the interchain disulphide bond and disulphide engineering

Antigen-binding fragments (Fab') of antibodies can be site specifically PEGylated at thiols using cysteine reactive PEG-maleimide conjugates. For therapeutic Fab'-PEG, conjugation with 40 kDa of PEG at a single hinge cysteine has been found to confer appropriate pharmacokinetic properties to enable infrequent dosing. Previous methods have activated the hinge cysteine using mildly reducing conditions in order to retain an intact interchain disulphide. We demonstrate that the final Fab-PEG product does not need to retain the interchain disulphide and also therefore that strongly reducing conditions can be used. This alternative approach results in PEGylation efficiencies of 88 and 94% for human and murine Fab, respectively. It also enables accurate and efficient site-specific multi-PEGylation. The use of the non-thiol reductant tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine combined with protein engineering enables us to demonstrate the mono-, di- and tri-PEGylation of Fab fragments with a range of PEG size. We present evidence that PEGylated and unPEGylated Fab' molecules that lack an interchain disulphide bond retain very high levels of chemical and thermal stability and normal performance in PK and efficacy models.

A plasmid system for optimization of Fab' production in Escherichia coli: importance of balance of heavy chain and light chain synthesis

We demonstrate the importance of optimizing the balance of light chain (LC) and heavy chain (HC) expression to achieve high level production of Fab' fragments in the Escherichia coli periplasm. The LC:HC balance has been controlled by varying the codon usage of the signal peptide (SP) and 5' mature domain coding regions. Different SP coding regions have been identified from a codon wobble-based library using alkaline phosphatase (AP) as a reporter gene. A plasmid system that enables random combination of these variant SP coding regions is used to construct optimized Fab' expression plasmids. These small plasmid libraries facilitated selection of optimal Fab' expression plasmids and resulted in increases of periplasmic yield, up to 580 mgL(-1) from E. coli fermentations and will enable rapid variable region subcloning and selection of future Fab(') expression plasmids.

Construction of dimeric F(ab) useful in blood group serology

BACKGROUND

When expressed in Escherichia coli, recombinant F(ab) contain a heavy-chain Fd fragment and a complete light-chain fragment. Because these F(ab) are monovalent, their avidity is significantly lower than that of a corresponding bivalent IgG antibody. In addition, when monovalent F(ab) are used in hemagglutination assays, antiglobulin reagents are required. Therefore, it would be useful to develop a system that expresses recombinant bivalent F(ab) in E. coli.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Three modified vectors were constructed. Each contained cDNA sequences encoding a peptide linked to the C terminus of a heavy-chain CH1 region: an IgG1 hinge region (Hinge), a leucine zipper (Zip), or a peptide containing the Hinge and Zip sequences in tandem (HingeZip). The vectors were used to express two cloned F(ab) recognizing human antigens M and N: NNA7 (anti-N) and 425/2B (anti-M). The recombinant proteins were expressed in E. coli and were purified and evaluated by ELISA and hemagglutination.

RESULTS

By gel filtration chromatography, 35, 90, and 70 percent of the purified F(ab) expressing the Hinge, Zip, and HingeZip tails, respectively, were dimers. By ELISA, the avidity of F(ab) containing the Zip or HingeZip tails was six to eight times higher than that of the corresponding monovalent F(ab). In addition, the dimeric F(ab) directly agglutinated RBCs in concentrations similar to those of corresponding bivalent IgG antibodies.

CONCLUSIONS

An introduction of dimer-inducing peptides allowed the isolation of bacterially produced, bivalent F(ab). This approach could be useful for obtaining inexpensive, serologic reagents that may replace or complement conventional MoAbs produced by mammalian tissue culture methods.

Improved efficiency of site-specific copper(II) ion-catalysed protein cleavage effected by mutagenesis of cleavage site

The peptide sequence (N)DKTH(C) was previously investigated as a site for efficient, specific cleavage of a fusion protein by cupric ions using a humanized gamma1 Fab' as a model protein. Here we show that conservative mutations to three of the residues in the introduced cleavage site resulted in cleavage sites that were significantly improved. They were cleaved more efficiently by Cu(2+), such that cleavage reactions could be shorter, of lower pH or at a lower temperature. Some were even found to be measurably cleaved by Ni(2+). Use of these new cleavage sequences along with cupric ions may provide a more rapid and less harsh method for cost-effective, large-scale proteolytic cleavage of fusion proteins and peptides.

Efficient site specific removal of a C-terminal FLAG fusion from a Fab' using copper(II) ion catalysed protein cleavage

The peptide sequence (N)DKTH(C) was investigated as a site for efficient, specific cleavage of a fusion protein by cupric ions using a humanised gamma1 Fab' as a model protein. The native upper hinge (N)DKTH(C) sequence was mutated to create a site resistant to cleavage by cupric ions and a (N)DKTH(C) sequence introduced between the hinge and a C-terminal FLAG peptide. Incubation of Fab' with Cu2+ at 62 degrees C at alkaline pHs resulted in removal of the FLAG peptide with efficiencies of up to 86%. Cleavage conditions did not detrimentally affect the Fab' protein. Use of the (N)DKTH(C) sequence along with cupric ions may provide a cost-effective method for large scale proteolytic cleavage of fusion proteins.

IgM secretory tailpiece drives multimerisation of bivalent scFv fragments in eukaryotic cells

BACKGROUND

The monoclonal antibody (mAb) TP-3 binds selectively to human and canine osteosarcoma (OS) cells and is therefore a potential candidate for use as a targeting agent in radioimmunoimaging and therapy of OS metastases. However, intact murine mAbs have several drawbacks such as large size, delayed blood clearance and high immunogenicity, all of which can be overcome by genetic engineering.

OBJECTIVES

To construct and express bivalent and multivalent TP-3 scFv fragments from the mammalian expression vector, pLNO. This vector has unique restriction sites for simple cassette cloning of any individual variable (V) and constant (C) genes and has previously been used for expression of intact chimeric TP-3 mAbs and Fab fragments. Furthermore, it is also suitable for expression of any modified V region, such as a scFv fragment, fused to any modified C region or to non-immunoglobulin protein sequences.

STUDY DESIGN

Six different constructs were made; three scFv-CH3 fragments that differed in the design of linker between the scFv fragment and the IgG CH3 domain. These constructs were also made with the IgM secretory tailpiece (microtp) attached to the C terminus.

RESULTS

All constructs were secreted as bivalent antibody fragments with a molecular weight of about 100 kDa. A band corresponding to a dimer appeared in all the supernatants from TP-3 scFv-CH3 producing cells, whether microtp was present or not, whereas higher orders of multimers were not seen. However, pulse chase analyses of the cells revealed that a small fraction of higher order polymers was formed from genes including the fragment encoding microtp and that microtp conferred retention both to monomers and intermediate polymers. The recombinant TP-3 antibody fragments were shown to bind human OS cells.

CONCLUSION

Recombinant mAb fragments can be designed and cloned into the mammalian expression vector, pLNO. This vector is flexible in the sense that the genes encoding such fragments can be expressed from either cDNA or from genomic DNA. A microtp attached to the CH3 domain in these fragments was sufficient to drive polymerization, however inefficiently and intracellular retention of both monomers and intermediate polymers was observed.

F(ab')2 molecules made from Escherichia coli produced Fab' with hinge sequences conferring increased serum survival in an animal model

Fab's with hinges based on the human gamma1 sequence containing 1, 2, or 4 cysteines have been produced by high level Escherichia coli periplasmic secretion, and coupled in vitro by reduction/oxidation to form F(ab')2. We find that the F(ab')2 made with hinges containing 2 or 4 cysteines have a high level (approximately 70%) of multiple disulphide bonds. These F(ab')2 molecules have an increased pharmacokinetic stability as measured by area under the curve compared to those made by direct coupling through a single disulphide bond. One particular molecule containing 4 hinge cysteines has a greater pharmacokinetic stability than a F(ab')2 formed by chemical cross-linking. F(ab')2 made from the Fab' with 4 hinge cysteines is also relatively resistant to chemical reduction in vitro allowing partial reduction to expose reactive hinge thiols. These hinge sequences provide a simple method for producing robust F(ab')2 in vitro, obviating the need to use chemical cross-linkers, and provide a route to hinge specific chemical modification with thiol-reactive conjugates.