Recombinant Bispecific Antibodies to the Human ErbB2 Receptor and Interferon-Beta

Optimization of recombinant antibody production based on the vector design and the level of metabolites for generation of Ig- producing stable cell lines

BACKGROUND

The biopharmaceutical industry is significantly growing worldwide, and the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are used as a main expression host for the production of recombinant monoclonal antibodies. Various metabolic engineering approaches have been investigated to generate cell lines with improved metabolic characteristics for increasing longevity and mAb production. A novel cell culture method based on the 2-stage selection makes it possible to develop a stable cell line with high-quality mAb production.

RESULTS

We have constructed several design options of mammalian expression vectors for the high production of recombinant human IgG antibodies. Versions for bipromoter and bicistronic expression plasmids different in promoter orientation and cistron arrangements were generated. The aim of the work presented here was to assess a high-throughput mAb production system that integrates the advantages of high-efficiency cloning and stable cell clones to stage strategy selection reducing the time and effort required to express therapeutic monoclonal mAbs. Development of a stable cell line using bicistronic construct with EMCV IRES-long link gave an advantage in high mAb expression and long-term stability. Two-stage selection strategies allowed the elimination of low-producer clones by using metabolic level intensity to estimate the IgG production in the early steps of selection. The practical application of the new method allows to reduce time and costs during stable cell line development.

Ten years in the making: application of CrossMab technology for the development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies and antibody fusion proteins

Bispecific antibodies have recently attracted intense interest. CrossMab technology was described in 2011 as novel approach enabling correct antibody light-chain association with their respective heavy chain in bispecific antibodies, together with methods enabling correct heavy-chain association using existing pairs of antibodies. Since the original description, CrossMab technology has evolved in the past decade into one of the most mature, versatile, and broadly applied technologies in the field, and nearly 20 bispecific antibodies based on CrossMab technology developed by Roche and others have entered clinical trials. The most advanced of these are the Ang-2/VEGF bispecific antibody faricimab, currently undergoing regulatory review, and the CD20/CD3 T cell bispecific antibody glofitamab, currently in pivotal Phase 3 trials. In this review, we introduce the principles of CrossMab technology, including its application for the generation of bi-/multispecific antibodies with different geometries and mechanisms of action, and provide an overview of CrossMab-based therapeutics in clinical trials.