Direct Comparison of Label-Free Biosensor Binding Kinetics Obtained on the Biacore 8K and the Carterra LSA

Funding pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to deliver new medicines to the market under aggressive timelines has led to a demand for analytical tools with higher detection sensitivity, increased throughput, and automation to speed up research and discovery efforts and converge upon clinically fit leads faster. In the quest for therapeutic antibodies, the early adoption of interaction analysis platforms utilizing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection provides insightful molecular-level information about the binding properties of antibody libraries that are key to understanding an antibody's mechanism of action and can guide the library-to-leads triage. Here, we sought to compare the binding kinetics obtained on two state-of-the-art high-throughput SPR platforms in an independent study conducted by unrelated groups located on different continents. We show that when experiments were performed by skilled users adhering to SPR best practices and allowed freedom in their assay design, the two platforms yielded near-identical results, establishing them both as reliable tools in accelerating the characterization of antibody libraries in providing critical information needed to advance leads to the clinic.

Assessing the binding properties of the anti-PD-1 antibody landscape using label-free biosensors

Here we describe an industry-wide collaboration aimed at assessing the binding properties of a comprehensive panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), an important checkpoint protein in cancer immunotherapy and validated therapeutic target, with well over thirty unique mAbs either in clinical development or market-approved in the United States, the European Union or China. The binding kinetics of the PD-1/mAb interactions were measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) using a Carterra LSA instrument and the results were compared to data collected on a Biacore 8K. The effect of chip type on the SPR-derived binding rate constants and affinities were explored and the results compared with solution affinities from Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) and Kinetic Exclusion Assay (KinExA) experiments. When using flat chip types, the LSA and 8K platforms yielded near-identical kinetic rate and affinity constants that matched solution phase values more closely than those produced on 3D-hydrogels. Of the anti-PD-1 mAbs tested, which included a portion of those known to be in clinical development or approved, the affinities spanned from single digit picomolar to nearly 425 nM, challenging the dynamic range of our methods. The LSA instrument was also used to perform epitope binning and ligand competition studies which revealed over ten unique competitive binding profiles within this group of mAbs.

Antibodies Targeting Closely Adjacent or Minimally Overlapping Epitopes Can Displace One Another

Here we describe how real-time label-free biosensors can be used to identify antibodies that compete for closely adjacent or minimally overlapping epitopes on their specific antigen via a mechanism of antibody displacement. By kinetically perturbing one another’s binding towards their antigen via the formation of a transient trimolecular complex, antibodies can displace one another in a fully reversible and dose-dependent manner. Displacements can be readily identified when epitope binning assays are performed in a classical sandwich assay format whereby a solution antibody (analyte) is tested for binding to its antigen that is first captured via an immobilized antibody (ligand) because an inverted sandwiching response is observed when an analyte displaces a ligand, signifying the antigen’s unusually rapid dissociation from its ligand. In addition to classifying antibodies within a panel in terms of their ability to block or sandwich pair with one another, displacement provides a hybrid mechanism of competition. Using high-throughput epitope binning studies we demonstrate that displacements can be observed on any target, if the antibody panel contains appropriate epitope diversity. Unidirectional displacements occurring between disparate-affinity antibodies can generate apparent asymmetries in a cross-blocking experiment, confounding their interpretation. However, examining competition across a wide enough concentration range will often reveal that these displacements are reversible. Displacement provides a gentle and efficient way of eluting antigen from an otherwise high affinity binding partner which can be leveraged in designing reagents or therapeutic antibodies with unique properties.

Assessing kinetic and epitopic diversity across orthogonal monoclonal antibody generation platforms

The ability of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to target specific antigens with high precision has led to an increasing demand to generate them for therapeutic use in many disease areas. Historically, the discovery of therapeutic mAbs has relied upon the immunization of mammals and various in vitro display technologies. While the routine immunization of rodents yields clones that are stable in serum and have been selected against vast arrays of endogenous, non-target self-antigens, it is often difficult to obtain species cross-reactive mAbs owing to the generally high sequence similarity shared across human antigens and their mammalian orthologs. In vitro display technologies bypass this limitation, but lack an in vivo screening mechanism, and thus may potentially generate mAbs with undesirable binding specificity and stability issues. Chicken immunization is emerging as an attractive mAb discovery method because it combines the benefits of both in vivo and in vitro display methods. Since chickens are phylogenetically separated from mammals, their proteins share less sequence homology with those of humans, so human proteins are often immunogenic and can readily elicit rodent cross-reactive clones, which are necessary for in vivo proof of mechanism studies. Here, we compare the binding characteristics of mAbs isolated from chicken immunization, mouse immunization, and phage display of human antibody libraries. Our results show that chicken-derived mAbs not only recapitulate the kinetic diversity of mAbs sourced from other methods, but appear to offer an expanded repertoire of epitopes. Further, chicken-derived mAbs can bind their native serum antigen with very high affinity, highlighting their therapeutic potential.

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) binds independently to both sites of the IgG homodimer with identical affinity

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is expressed by cells of epithelial, endothelial and myeloid lineages and performs multiple roles in adaptive immunity. Characterizing the FcRn/IgG interaction is fundamental to designing therapeutic antibodies because IgGs with moderately increased binding affinities for FcRn exhibit superior serum half-lives and efficacy. It has been hypothesized that 2 FcRn molecules bind an IgG homodimer with disparate affinities, yet their affinity constants are inconsistent across the literature. Using surface plasmon resonance biosensor assays that eliminated confounding experimental artifacts, we present data supporting an alternate hypothesis: 2 FcRn molecules saturate an IgG homodimer with identical affinities at independent sites, consistent with the symmetrical arrangement of the FcRn/Fc complex observed in the crystal structure published by Burmeister et al. in 1994. We find that human FcRn binds human IgG1 with an equilibrium dissociation constant (K_D) of 760 ± 60 nM (N = 14) at 25°C and pH 5.8, and shows less than 25% variation across the other human subtypes. Human IgG1 binds cynomolgus monkey FcRn with a 2-fold higher affinity than human FcRn, and binds both mouse and rat FcRn with a 10-fold higher affinity than human FcRn. FcRn/IgG interactions from multiple species show less than a 2-fold weaker affinity at 37°C than at 25°C and appear independent of an IgG's variable region. Our in vivo data in mouse and rat models demonstrate that both affinity and avidity influence an IgG's serum half-life, which should be considered when choosing animals, especially transgenic systems, as surrogates.

High-throughput epitope binning assays on label-free array-based biosensors can yield exquisite epitope discrimination that facilitates the selection of monoclonal antibodies with functional activity

Here, we demonstrate how array-based label-free biosensors can be applied to the multiplexed interaction analysis of large panels of analyte/ligand pairs, such as the epitope binning of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). In this application, the larger the number of mAbs that are analyzed for cross-blocking in a pairwise and combinatorial manner against their specific antigen, the higher the probability of discriminating their epitopes. Since cross-blocking of two mAbs is necessary but not sufficient for them to bind an identical epitope, high-resolution epitope binning analysis determined by high-throughput experiments can enable the identification of mAbs with similar but unique epitopes. We demonstrate that a mAb's epitope and functional activity are correlated, thereby strengthening the relevance of epitope binning data to the discovery of therapeutic mAbs. We evaluated two state-of-the-art label-free biosensors that enable the parallel analysis of 96 unique analyte/ligand interactions and nearly ten thousand total interactions per unattended run. The IBIS-MX96 is a microarray-based surface plasmon resonance imager (SPRi) integrated with continuous flow microspotting technology whereas the Octet-HTX is equipped with disposable fiber optic sensors that use biolayer interferometry (BLI) detection. We compared their throughput, versatility, ease of sample preparation, and sample consumption in the context of epitope binning assays. We conclude that the main advantages of the SPRi technology are its exceptionally low sample consumption, facile sample preparation, and unparalleled unattended throughput. In contrast, the BLI technology is highly flexible because it allows for the simultaneous interaction analysis of 96 independent analyte/ligand pairs, ad hoc sensor replacement and on-line reloading of an analyte- or ligand-array. Thus, the complementary use of these two platforms can expedite applications that are relevant to the discovery of therapeutic mAbs, depending upon the sample availability, and the number and diversity of the interactions being studied.

Probing the binding mechanism and affinity of tanezumab, a recombinant humanized anti-NGF monoclonal antibody, using a repertoire of biosensors

We describe the use of four complementary biosensors (Biacore 3000, Octet QK, ProteOn XPR36, and KinExA 3000) in characterizing the kinetics of human nerve growth factor (NGF) binding to a humanized NGF-neutralizing monoclonal antibody (tanezumab, formerly known as RN624). Tanezumab is a clinical candidate as a therapy for chronic pain. Our measurements were consistent with the NGF/tanezumab binding affinity being tighter than 10 pM due to the formation of an extremely stable complex that had an estimated half-life exceeding 100 h, which was beyond the resolution of any of our methods. The system was particularly challenging to study because NGF is an obligate homodimer, and we describe various assay orientations and immobilization methods that were used to minimize avidity in our experiments while keeping NGF in as native a state as possible. We also explored the interactions of NGF with its natural receptors, TrkA and P75, and how tanezumab blocks them. The Biacore blocking assay that we designed was used to quantify the potency of tanezumab and is more precise and reproducible than the currently available cell-based functional assays.

The ABRF-MIRG'02 study: assembly state, thermodynamic, and kinetic analysis of an enzyme/inhibitor interaction

Fully characterizing the interactions involving biomolecules requires information on the assembly state, affinity, kinetics, and thermodynamics associated with complex formation. The analytical technologies often used to measure biomolecular interactions include analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In order to evaluate the capabilities of core facilities to implement these technologies, the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) Molecular Interactions Research Group (MIRG) developed a standardized model system and distributed it to a panel of AUC, ITC, and SPR operators. The model system was composed of a well-characterized enzyme-inhibitor pair, namely bovine carbonic anhydrase II (CA II) and 4-carboxybenzenesulfonamide (CBS). Study participants were asked to measure one or more of the following: (1) the molecular mass, homogeneity, and assembly state of CA II by AUC; (2) the affinity and thermodynamics for complex formation by ITC; and (3) the affinity and kinetics of complex formation by SPR. The results from this study provide a benchmark for comparing the capabilities of individual laboratories and for defining the utility of the different instrumentation.