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Cheng Y, Zou J, He M, Hou X, Wang H, Xu J, Yuan Z, Lan M, Yang Y, Chen X, Gao F. Spatiotemporally controlled Pseudomonas exotoxin transgene system combined with multifunctional nanoparticles for breast cancer antimetastatic therapy. J Control Release 2024; 367:167-183. [PMID: 37562556 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
The tumor microenvironment is a barrier to breast cancer therapy. Cancer-associated fibroblast cells (CAFs) can support tumor proliferation, metastasis, and drug resistance by secreting various cytokines and growth factors. Abnormal angiogenesis provides sufficient nutrients for tumor proliferation. Considering that CAFs express the sigma receptor (which recognizes anisamide, AA), we developed a CAFs and breast cancer cells dual-targeting nano drug delivery system to transport the LightOn gene express system, a spatiotemporal controlled gene expression consisting of a light-sensitive transcription factor and a specific minimal promoter. We adopted RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) to selectively bind to the αvβ3 integrin on activated vascular endothelial cells and tumor cells. After the LightOn system has reached the tumor site, LightOn gene express system can spatiotemporal controllably express toxic Pseudomonas exotoxin An under blue light irradiation. The LightOn gene express system, combined with multifunctional nanoparticles, achieved high targeting delivery efficiency both in vitro and in vivo. It also displayed strong tumor and CAFs inhibition, anti-angiogenesis ability and anti-metastasis ability, with good safety. Moreover, it improved survival rate, survival time, and lung metastasis rate in a mouse breast cancer model. This study proves the efficacy of combining the LightOn system with targeted multifunctional nanoparticles in tumor and anti-metastatic therapy and provides new insights into tumor microenvironment regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Cheng
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of New Drug Design, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Jiafeng Zou
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of New Drug Design, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Muye He
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Xinyu Hou
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Hongtao Wang
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Jiajun Xu
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Zeting Yuan
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Minbo Lan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Yi Yang
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Optogenetics and Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Research Unit of New Techniques for Live-cell Metabolic Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Xianjun Chen
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Optogenetics and Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Research Unit of New Techniques for Live-cell Metabolic Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China.
| | - Feng Gao
- Shanghai Frontier Science Research Base of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of New Drug Design, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; Optogenetics and Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
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Masilamani AP, Huber N, Nagl C, Dettmer-Monaco V, Monaco G, Wolf I, Schultze-Seemann S, Taromi S, Gratzke C, Fuchs H, Wolf P. Enhanced cytotoxicity of a Pseudomonas Exotoxin A based immunotoxin against prostate cancer by addition of the endosomal escape enhancer SO1861. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1211824. [PMID: 37484018 PMCID: PMC10358361 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1211824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Immunotoxins consist of an antibody or antibody fragment that binds to a specific cell surface structure and a cytotoxic domain that kills the cell after cytosolic uptake. Pseudomonas Exotoxin A (PE) based immunotoxins directed against a variety of tumor entities have successfully entered the clinic. PE possesses a KDEL-like motif (REDLK) that enables the toxin to travel from sorting endosomes via the KDEL-receptor pathway to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), from where it is transported into the cytosol. There, it ADP-ribosylates the eukaryotic elongation factor 2, resulting in ribosome inhibition and finally apoptosis. One major problem of immunotoxins is their lysosomal degradation causing the need for much more immunotoxin molecules than finally required for induction of cell death. The resulting dose limitations and substantially increased side effects require new strategies to achieve improved cytosolic uptake. Here we generated an immunotoxin consisting of a humanized single chain variable fragment (scFv) targeting the prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and the de-immunized PE variant PE24mut. This immunotoxin, hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24mut, showed high and specific cytotoxicity in PSMA-expressing prostate cancer cells. We deleted the REDLK sequence to prevent transport to the ER and achieve endosomal entrapment. The cytotoxicity of this immunotoxin, hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24mutΔREDLK, was greatly reduced. To restore activity, we added the endosomal escape enhancer SO1861 and observed an up to 190,000-fold enhanced cytotoxicity corresponding to a 57-fold enhancement compared to the initial immunotoxin with the REDLK sequence. A biodistribution study with different routes of administration clearly showed that the subcutaneous injection of hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24mutΔREDLK in mice resulted in the highest tumor uptake. Treatment of mice bearing prostate tumors with a combination of hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24mutΔREDLK plus SO1861 resulted in inhibition of tumor growth and enhanced overall survival compared to the monotherapies. The endosomal entrapment of non-toxic anti-PSMA immunotoxins followed by enhanced endosomal escape by SO1861 provides new therapeutic options in the future management of prostate cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anie P. Masilamani
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Nathalie Huber
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Constanze Nagl
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Viviane Dettmer-Monaco
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Gianni Monaco
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Institute of Neuropathology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Isis Wolf
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty for Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Susanne Schultze-Seemann
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Sanaz Taromi
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Department of Medicine I, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences, University Furtwangen, VS-Schwenningen, Germany
| | - Christian Gratzke
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Hendrik Fuchs
- Institute of Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Philipp Wolf
- Department of Urology, Medical Center—University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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Mohammadlou M, Salehi S, Baharlou R. Development of anti DLL4 Nanobody fused to truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin: As a novel immunotoxin to inhibit of cell proliferation and neovascularization. Anal Biochem 2022; 653:114776. [PMID: 35679954 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2022.114776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Targeted tumor therapy is an attractive approach for cancer treatment. Delta-like ligand 4 (DLL4) is overexpressed in tumor vasculature and plays a pivotal role in tumor neovascular development and angiogenesis during tumor progression. Immunotoxins due to their superior cell-killing ability and the relative simplicity of their preparation, have great potential in the clinical treatment of cancer. The aim of this study was to develop a novel immunotoxin against DLL4 as a cell cytotoxic agent and angiogenesis maturation inhibitor. In present study, an immunotoxin, named DLL4Nb-PE, in which a Nanobody as targeting moiety fused to the Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) was constructed, expressed and assessed by SDS-PAGE, western blotting, ELISA and flowcytometry. The functional assessment was carried out via MTT, apoptosis and chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays. It was demonstrated DLL4Nb-PE specifically binds to DLL4 and recognizes DLL4-expressing MKN cells. The cytotoxicity assays showed that this molecule could induce apoptosis and kill DLL4 positive MKN cells. In addition, it inhibited neovascularization in the chicken chorioallantoic membrane. Our findings indicate designed anti-DLL4 immunotoxin has valuable potential for application to the treatment of tumors with high DLL4 expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Mohammadlou
- Cancer Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
| | - Shima Salehi
- Biotechnology Research Center, Venom & Biotherapeutics Molecules Laboratory, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Rasoul Baharlou
- Cancer Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
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Abstract
The discovery of single-domain antibodies has opened new avenues for drug development. Single-domain antibodies, also known as nanobodies, can access buried epitopes that are inaccessible to conventional antibodies. These antigen-binding domains have a high level of solubility and stability, which makes them well suited for therapeutic development. This chapter will discuss the design, production, and testing of single-domain antibody-based recombinant immunotoxins. Recombinant immunotoxins are chimeric proteins that combine the specificity of an antibody with the ribosomal-inhibitory domain of a bacterial toxin. Immunotoxins using the Pseudomonas exotoxin domain have been well studied in clinical trials. Recently, an anti-CD22 immunotoxin was granted marketing approval for use in patients with relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia. This supports the idea that treatment with recombinant immunotoxins can be explored for cancers that have not responded to standard therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryan D Fleming
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mitchell Ho
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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5
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Havaei SM, Aucoin MG, Jahanian-Najafabadi A. Pseudomonas Exotoxin-Based Immunotoxins: Over Three Decades of Efforts on Targeting Cancer Cells With the Toxin. Front Oncol 2021; 11:781800. [PMID: 34976821 PMCID: PMC8716853 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.781800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer is one of the prominent causes of death worldwide. Despite the existence of various modalities for cancer treatment, many types of cancer remain uncured or develop resistance to therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, almost all chemotherapeutics cause a range of side effects because they affect normal cells in addition to malignant cells. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic agents that are targeted specifically toward cancer cells is indispensable. Immunotoxins (ITs) are a class of tumor cell-targeted fusion proteins consisting of both a targeting moiety and a toxic moiety. The targeting moiety is usually an antibody/antibody fragment or a ligand of the immune system that can bind an antigen or receptor that is only expressed or overexpressed by cancer cells but not normal cells. The toxic moiety is usually a protein toxin (or derivative) of animal, plant, insect, or bacterial origin. To date, three ITs have gained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for human use, including denileukin diftitox (FDA approval: 1999), tagraxofusp (FDA approval: 2018), and moxetumomab pasudotox (FDA approval: 2018). All of these ITs take advantage of bacterial protein toxins. The toxic moiety of the first two ITs is a truncated form of diphtheria toxin, and the third is a derivative of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE). There is a growing list of ITs using PE, or its derivatives, being evaluated preclinically or clinically. Here, we will review these ITs to highlight the advances in PE-based anticancer strategies, as well as review the targeting moieties that are used to reduce the non-specific destruction of non-cancerous cells. Although we tried to be as comprehensive as possible, we have limited our review to those ITs that have proceeded to clinical trials and are still under active clinical evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyed Mehdi Havaei
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Marc G. Aucoin
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Ali Jahanian-Najafabadi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
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Abstract
Immunotoxins (ITs) are protein-based drugs that compose of targeting and cytotoxic moieties. After binding the IT to the specific cell-surface antigen, the IT internalises into the target cell and kills it. Targeting and cytotoxic moieties usually include monoclonal antibodies and protein toxins with bacterial or plant origin, respectively. ITs have been successful in haematologic malignancies treatment. However, ITs penetrate poorly into solid tumours because of their large size. Use of camelid antibody fragments known as nanobodies (Nbs) as a targeting moiety may overcome this problem. Nbs are the smallest fragment of antibodies with excellent tumour tissue penetration. The ability to recognise cryptic (immuno-evasive) target antigens, low immunogenicity, and high-affinity are other fundamental characteristics of Nbs that make them suitable candidates in targeted therapy. Here, we reviewed and discussed the structure and function of ITs, Nbs, and nanobody-based ITs. To gain sound insight into the issue at hand, we focussed on nanobody-based ITs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Reza Khirehgesh
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Jafar Sharifi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Fatemeh Safari
- Diagnostic Laboratory Sciences and Technology Research Center, School of Paramedical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Bahman Akbari
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
- Medical Biology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
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Park S, Nguyen MQ, Ta HKK, Nguyen MT, Lee G, Kim CJ, Jang YJ, Choe H. Soluble Cytoplasmic Expression and Purification of Immunotoxin HER2(scFv)-PE24B as a Maltose Binding Protein Fusion. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:6483. [PMID: 34204265 PMCID: PMC8234717 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22126483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) is overexpressed in many malignant tumors. The anti-HER2 antibody trastuzumab has been approved for treating HER2-positive early and metastatic breast cancers. Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE), a bacterial toxin of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, consists of an A-domain with enzymatic activity and a B-domain with cell binding activity. Recombinant immunotoxins comprising the HER2(scFv) single-chain Fv from trastuzumab and the PE24B catalytic fragment of PE display promising cytotoxic effects, but immunotoxins are typically insoluble when expressed in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli, and thus they require solubilization and refolding. Herein, a recombinant immunotoxin gene was fused with maltose binding protein (MBP) and overexpressed in a soluble form in E. coli. Removal of the MBP yielded stable HER2(scFv)-PE24B at 91% purity; 0.25 mg of pure HER2(scFv)-PE24B was obtained from a 500 mL flask culture. Purified HER2(scFv)-PE24B was tested against four breast cancer cell lines differing in their surface HER2 level. The immunotoxin showed stronger cytotoxicity than HER2(scFv) or PE24B alone. The IC50 values for HER2(scFv)-PE24B were 28.1 ± 2.5 pM (n = 9) and 19 ± 1.4 pM (n = 9) for high HER2-positive cell lines SKBR3 and BT-474, respectively, but its cytotoxicity was lower against MDA-MB-231 and MCF7. Thus, fusion with MBP can facilitate the soluble expression and purification of scFv immunotoxins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangsu Park
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
| | - Minh Quan Nguyen
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
| | - Huynh Kim Khanh Ta
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
| | - Minh Tan Nguyen
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
- NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Vietnam
| | - Gunsup Lee
- R&D Center, Fatiabgen Co., Ltd., Seoul 05855, Korea;
| | - Chong Jai Kim
- Department of Pathology, Asan-Minnesota Institute for Innovating Transplantation, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea;
| | - Yeon Jin Jang
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
| | - Han Choe
- Department of Physiology, Bio-Medical Institute of Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; (S.P.); (M.Q.N.); (H.K.K.T.); (M.T.N.); (Y.J.J.)
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Lin P, Qi J, Liu W. Expert's views and perspectives: an interview with distinguished investigator Dr. Ira Pastan at the National Cancer Institute at NIH. Antib Ther 2021; 3:163-166. [PMID: 33928228 PMCID: PMC7990248 DOI: 10.1093/abt/tbaa015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Peng Lin
- Chinese Antibody Society, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Fish & Richardson PC, 1 Marina Park Drive, Boston, MA 02210,
USA
- To whom correspondence should be addressed: Peng Lin or Junpeng Qi,
or
| | - Junpeng Qi
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The
Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- To whom correspondence should be addressed: Peng Lin or Junpeng Qi,
or
| | - Weijing Liu
- Chinese Antibody Society, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Dieffenbach M, Pastan I. Mechanisms of Resistance to Immunotoxins Containing Pseudomonas Exotoxin A in Cancer Therapy. Biomolecules 2020; 10:E979. [PMID: 32630017 PMCID: PMC7408526 DOI: 10.3390/biom10070979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Revised: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 06/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Immunotoxins are a class of targeted cancer therapeutics in which a toxin such as Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) is linked to an antibody or cytokine to direct the toxin to a target on cancer cells. While a variety of PE-based immunotoxins have been developed and a few have demonstrated promising clinical and preclinical results, cancer cells frequently have or develop resistance to these immunotoxins. This review presents our current understanding of the mechanism of action of PE-based immunotoxins and discusses cellular mechanisms of resistance that interfere with various steps of the pathway. These steps include binding of the immunotoxin to the target antigen, internalization, intracellular processing and trafficking to reach the cytosol, inhibition of protein synthesis through ADP-ribosylation of elongation factor 2 (EF2), and induction of apoptosis. Combination therapies that increase immunotoxin action and overcome specific mechanisms of resistance are also reviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ira Pastan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA;
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Zhu Y, Weldon JE. Evaluating the influence of common antibiotics on the efficacy of a recombinant immunotoxin in tissue culture. BMC Res Notes 2019; 12:293. [PMID: 31133049 PMCID: PMC6537151 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-019-4337-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Recombinant immunotoxins (RITs) are antibody-toxin fusion proteins that can selectively eliminate populations of cells expressing specific surface receptors. They are in evaluation as therapeutic agents for cancer. RITs based on Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) are in use clinically for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia, and under trial for the treatment of other cancers. In an effort to improve the efficacy of PE-based RITs, we evaluated the potential of combination therapy with several common antibiotics (tetracycline, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, linezolid, fusidic acid, and kanamycin) on human cell lines HEK293, OVCAR8, and CA46. Antibiotics were selected based on their potential to inhibit mitochondrial protein synthesis and disrupt energy metabolism in cancer cells. RESULTS Tetracycline, chloramphenicol, linezolid, and fusidic acid alone killed cultured human cells at high concentrations. At high but nontoxic concentrations of each antibiotic, only chloramphenicol treatment of the Burkitt's lymphoma cell line CA46 showed enhanced cytotoxicity when paired with an anti-transferrin receptor/PE RIT. This result, however, could not be replicated in additional Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines Ramos and Raji. Although the six antibiotics we tested are not promising candidates for RIT combination therapy, we suggest that fusidic acid could be considered independently as a potential cancer therapeutic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyi Zhu
- Department of Biological Sciences, The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252 USA
| | - John E. Weldon
- Department of Biological Sciences, The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252 USA
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Sokolova EA, Shilova ON, Kiseleva DV, Schulga AA, Balalaeva IV, Deyev SM. HER2-Specific Targeted Toxin DARPin-LoPE: Immunogenicity and Antitumor Effect on Intraperitoneal Ovarian Cancer Xenograft Model. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E2399. [PMID: 31096563 PMCID: PMC6567818 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20102399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2019] [Revised: 05/04/2019] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
High immunogenicity and systemic toxicity are the main obstacles limiting the clinical use of the therapeutic agents based on Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. In this work, we studied the immunogenicity, general toxicity and antitumor effect of the targeted toxin DARPin-LoPE composed of HER2-specific DARPin and a low immunogenic exotoxin A fragment lacking immunodominant human B lymphocyte epitopes. The targeted toxin has been shown to effectively inhibit the growth of HER2-positive human ovarian carcinoma xenografts, while exhibiting low non-specific toxicity and side effects, such as vascular leak syndrome and liver tissue degradation, as well as low immunogenicity, as was shown by specific antibody titer. This represents prospects for its use as an agent for targeted therapy of HER2-positive tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgeniya A Sokolova
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Olga N Shilova
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Daria V Kiseleva
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Alexey A Schulga
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Irina V Balalaeva
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8-2 Trubetskaya str., Moscow 119991, Russia.
| | - Sergey M Deyev
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8-2 Trubetskaya str., Moscow 119991, Russia.
- Research Nuclear Reactor Center, National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30 Lenin ave., Tomsk 634050, Russia.
- Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine (PhysBio), National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI", 31 Kashirskoe Shosse, Moscow 115409, Russia.
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12
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Sokolova E, Kutova O, Grishina A, Pospelov A, Guryev E, Schulga A, Deyev S, Balalaeva I. Penetration Efficiency of Antitumor Agents in Ovarian Cancer Spheroids: The Case of Recombinant Targeted Toxin DARPin-LoPE and the Chemotherapy Drug, Doxorubicin. Pharmaceutics 2019; 11:pharmaceutics11050219. [PMID: 31067739 PMCID: PMC6572593 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics11050219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The efficiency of delivering a therapeutic agent into a tumor is among the crucial factors determining the prospects for its clinical use. This problem is particularly acute in the case of targeted antitumor agents since many of them are high-molecular-weight compounds. In this work, the penetration of therapeutic agents of two distinct molecular weights into the spheroids of ovarian adenocarcinoma overexpressing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) was studied. It was shown that the low-molecular-weight chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin (~0.5 kDa), effectively penetrates through almost the entire depth of a 300 to 400 μm spheroid, while the penetration depth of the HER2-specific recombinant targeted toxin, DARPin-LoPE (~42 kDa), is only a few surface layers of cells and does not exceed 70 μm. The low penetration of the targeted toxin into spheroid was shown along with a significant decrease in its efficiency against the three-dimensional tumor spheroid as compared with the two-dimensional monolayer culture. The approaches to increasing the accumulation of agents in the tumor are presented and prospects of their use in order to improve the effectiveness of therapy are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgeniya Sokolova
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
- Laboratory of molecular immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Olga Kutova
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
| | - Alena Grishina
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
| | - Anton Pospelov
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
| | - Evgeniy Guryev
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
| | - Alexey Schulga
- Laboratory of molecular immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
| | - Sergey Deyev
- Laboratory of molecular immunology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklay St., Moscow 117997, Russia.
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8-2 Trubetskaya str., Moscow 119991, Russia.
- Research Nuclear Reactor Center, National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30 Lenin ave., Tomsk 634050, Russia.
- Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine (PhysBio), National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI", 31 Kashirskoe shosse, Moscow 115409, Russia.
| | - Irina Balalaeva
- Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin ave., Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia.
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8-2 Trubetskaya str., Moscow 119991, Russia.
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13
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Leshem Y, Pastan I. Pseudomonas Exotoxin Immunotoxins and Anti-Tumor Immunity: From Observations at the Patient's Bedside to Evaluation in Preclinical Models. Toxins (Basel) 2019; 11:toxins11010020. [PMID: 30621280 PMCID: PMC6356957 DOI: 10.3390/toxins11010020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2018] [Revised: 01/04/2019] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Immunotoxins are protein drugs composed of a targeting domain genetically fused to a protein toxin. One killing domain being explored is a truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE). PE based immunotoxins are designed to kill cells directly by inhibiting their ability to synthesize proteins. However, observations from clinical trials suggest that this alone cannot explain their anti-tumor activity. Here we discuss patterns of clinical responses suggesting that PE immunotoxins can provoke anti-tumor immunity, and review murine models that further support this ability. In addition, we describe our preclinical effort to develop a combination therapy of local PE immunotoxins with a systemic anti-CTLA-4 immune check point blocking antibody. The combination eradicated murine tumors and prolonged the survival of mice. Clinical trials that test the ability of immunotoxins to augment immunotherapy have been recently opened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasmin Leshem
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Faculty of Biology and Technion Integrated Cancer Center, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.
| | - Ira Pastan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
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14
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Falahatgar D, Farajnia S, Zarghami N, Tanomand A, Khosroshahi SA, Akbari B, Farajnia H. Expression and Evaluation of HuscFv Antibody -PE40 Immunotoxin for Target Therapy of EGFR-Overexpressing Cancers. Iran J Biotechnol 2018; 16:e1743. [PMID: 31457033 PMCID: PMC6697836 DOI: 10.21859/ijb.1743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2016] [Revised: 10/11/2017] [Accepted: 10/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Background Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in the progression and tumorigenesis of the various cancers. In this regards, anti-EGFR antibodies are valuable approved therapeutics for the EGFR over-expressing cancers. However, the occurrence of mutations in the EGFR and/or KRAS genes; a common phenomenon which is seen in many cancers, lead to the resistance to the EGFR-directed antibodies. EGFR based immunotoxins are capable of overcoming this limitation by directing the toxin moieties to the cancer cells resulting in cell death. Objectives In the present study, a novel immunotoxin consisting of the truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE-40) and anti-EGFR huscFv was developed and evaluated for the induction of cell death in EGFR positive A431tumoral cells. Materials and Methods PE-40 fragment of the exotoxin A was amplified by using PCR and ligated to pET22b-huscFv. The reaction was confirmed by PCR and restriction digestion. The immunotoxin was expressed in E. coli BL21 (plysS) and then was purified by Ni-NTA affinity column. Subsequently, the toxicity of the purified immunotoxin was evaluated on EGFR over-expressing epidermoid carcinoma of skin, A431 cell line. Results PCR and restriction digestion experiments have verified the integrity of the immunotoxin construct. Purification by affinity column resulted in a highly purified recombinant immunotoxin. MTT assay revealed the growth inhibitory effect of the huscFv-PE40 immunotoxin on EGFR-over-expressing A431 cells with an IC50 value of 250 ng.mL-1. Conclusion In conclusion, the results indicated that the immunotoxin developed in this study has a high toxicity on the EGFR-over-expressing tumor cells and could be considered as a promising candidate for the treatment of the EGFR positive cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dianoush Falahatgar
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Science, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.,Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Safar Farajnia
- Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.,Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran
| | - Nosratollah Zarghami
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Science, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | | | | | - Bahman Akbari
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Hadi Farajnia
- Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
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15
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Michalska M, Schultze-Seemann S, Kuckuck I, Wolf P. In Vitro Evaluation of Humanized/De-immunized Anti-PSMA Immunotoxins for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer. Anticancer Res 2018; 38:61-69. [PMID: 29277757 DOI: 10.21873/anticanres.12192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2017] [Revised: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND We generated humanized/de-immunized immunotoxins targeting the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and tested their cytotoxic activity against prostate cancer cells in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS The humanized/de-immunized version of our murine anti-PSMA single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) D7, termed hD7-1(VL-VH), was ligated to the 40-kDa toxin domain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A (PE40), and to the deimmunized 24-kDa toxin domains PE24 or PE24mut. The immunotoxins designated as hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE40, hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24 and hD7-1(VL-VH)-PE24mut were bacterially expressed and purified by affinity chromatography. Binding and cytotoxicity were examined by flow cytometry and viability assay, respectively. RESULTS All immunotoxins revealed strong binding to prostate cancer cells expressing PSMA and specific cytotoxicity, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration values in the picomolar range. CONCLUSION We successfully created powerful anti-PSMA immunotoxins with reduced immunogenicity for further clinical development and application against advanced prostate cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Michalska
- Department of Urology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Susanne Schultze-Seemann
- Department of Urology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Irina Kuckuck
- Department of Urology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Philipp Wolf
- Department of Urology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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16
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Chiu CC, Wang YC, Huang WC, Chen YH, Hung SW, Huang YT, Chuang HL, Chang YC. Differences in Genetic Background Contribute to Pseudomonas Exotoxin A-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats. Toxins (Basel) 2017; 9:E224. [PMID: 28714885 PMCID: PMC5535171 DOI: 10.3390/toxins9070224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/13/2017] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A (PEA) causes severe hepatotoxicity in experimental animals and is useful in investigations of immune-mediated liver injury. However, strain differences in the sensitivity to PEA-induced hepatotoxicity in rats remains be elucidated. In this study, we determined the severity of PEA-induced hepatotoxicity in six genetically different rat strains. Male LE (Long Evans), Wistar, F344, WKY, BN/SsN and LEW rats were administered a single intravenous injection of PEA (20 μg/kg). Significantly elevated serum ALT and AST levels, massive necrosis and hemorrhage, and numerous TUNEL-positive hepatocytes were observed in BN/SsN rats. In contrast, low levels of ALT and AST as well as mild changes in liver histopathology were observed in Wistar and F344 rats. Moderate levels of hepatic injuries were observed in LE, WKY, and LEW rats. Pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-2 and IL-6 serum levels were markedly increased in BN/SsN rats compared to Wistar and F344 rats. However, the hepatic levels of low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP), which functions as the PEA receptor, were not significantly different in each strain. Taken together, we suggest that BN/SsN is the most sensitive rat strain, whereas Wistar and F344 were the most resistant rat strains to PEA-induced liver damage. The different genetic background of rat strains plays an important role in the susceptibility to PEA-induced epatotoxicity that may depend on immune-regulation but not LRP receptor levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chien-Chao Chiu
- Animal Technology Laboratories, Agricultural Technology Research Institute, Miaoli 350, Taiwan.
| | - Yu-Chih Wang
- Graduate Institute of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
| | - Wen-Ching Huang
- Department of Exercise and Health Science, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
| | - Yi-Hsun Chen
- Graduate Institute of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
| | - Shao-Wen Hung
- Animal Technology Laboratories, Agricultural Technology Research Institute, Miaoli 350, Taiwan.
| | - Yen-Te Huang
- National Laboratory Animal Center, National Applied Research Laboratories, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
| | - Hsiao-Li Chuang
- National Laboratory Animal Center, National Applied Research Laboratories, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
| | - Yi-Chih Chang
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan.
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17
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Yu Y, Li J, Zhu X, Tang X, Bao Y, Sun X, Huang Y, Tian F, Liu X, Yang L. Humanized CD7 nanobody-based immunotoxins exhibit promising anti-T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia potential. Int J Nanomedicine 2017; 12:1969-1983. [PMID: 28331319 PMCID: PMC5357075 DOI: 10.2147/ijn.s127575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Nanobodies, named as VHHs (variable domain of heavy chain of HCAb [heavy-chain antibodies]), are derived from heavy-chain-only antibodies that circulate in sera of camelids. Their exceptional physicochemical properties, possibility of humanization, and unique antigen recognition properties make them excellent candidates for targeted delivery of biologically active components, including immunotoxins. In our previous efforts, we have successfully generated the monovalent and bivalent CD7 nanobody-based immunotoxins, which can effectively trigger the apoptosis of CD7-positive malignant cells. To pursue the possibility of translating those immunotoxins into clinics, we humanized the nanobody sequences (designated as dhuVHH6) as well as further truncated the Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE)-derived PE38 toxin to produce a more protease-resistant form, which is named as PE-LR, by deleting majority of PE domain II. METHODS AND RESULTS Three new types of immunotoxins, dhuVHH6-PE38, dVHH6-PE-LR, and dhuVHH6-PE-LR, were successfully constructed. These recombinant immunotoxins were expressed in Escherichia coli and showed that nanobody immunotoxins have the benefits of easy soluble expression in a prokaryotic expression system. Flow cytometry results revealed that all immunotoxins still maintained the ability to bind specifically to CD7-positive T lymphocyte strains without binding to CD7-negative control cells. Laser scanning confocal microscopy revealed that these proteins can be endocytosed into the cytoplasm after binding with CD7-positive cells and that this phenomenon was not observed in CD7-negative cells. WST-8 experiments showed that all immunotoxins retained the highly effective and specific growth inhibition activity in CD7-positive cell lines and primary T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells. Further in vivo animal model experiments showed that humanized dhuVHH6-PE38 immunotoxin can tolerate higher doses and extend the survival of NOD-Prkdcem26Il2rgem26Nju (NCG) mice transplanted with CEM cells without any obvious decrease in body weight. Further studies on NCG mice model with patient-derived T-ALL cells, dhuVHH6-PE38 treatment, significantly prolonged mice survival with ~40% survival improvement. However, it was also noticed that although dhuVHH6-PE-LR showed strong antitumor effect in vitro, its in vivo antitumor efficacy was disappointing. CONCLUSION We have successfully constructed a targeted CD7 molecule-modified nanobody (CD7 molecule-improved nanobody) immunotoxin dhuVHH6-PE38 and demonstrated its potential for treating CD7-positive malignant tumors, especially T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Yu
- The Cyrus Tang Hematology Center
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
- Suzhou Cancer Immunotherapy and Diagnosis Engineering Center, Suzhou
| | - Jialu Li
- The Cyrus Tang Hematology Center
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
- Suzhou Cancer Immunotherapy and Diagnosis Engineering Center, Suzhou
| | - Xuejun Zhu
- Central Laboratory, Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing
| | - Xiaowen Tang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou
| | - Yangyi Bao
- Department of Hematology-Oncology, The First People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xiang Sun
- Department of Hematology-Oncology, The First People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yuhui Huang
- The Cyrus Tang Hematology Center
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
| | - Fang Tian
- Central Laboratory, Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing
| | - Xiaomei Liu
- The Cyrus Tang Hematology Center
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
| | - Lin Yang
- The Cyrus Tang Hematology Center
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University
- Suzhou Cancer Immunotherapy and Diagnosis Engineering Center, Suzhou
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18
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Mazor R, Kaplan G, Park D, Jang Y, Lee F, Kreitman R, Pastan I. Rational design of low immunogenic anti CD25 recombinant immunotoxin for T cell malignancies by elimination of T cell epitopes in PE38. Cell Immunol 2017; 313:59-66. [PMID: 28087047 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2017.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Revised: 01/04/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
LMB-2, is a potent recombinant immunotoxin (RIT) that is composed of scFv antibody that targets CD25 (Tac) and a toxin fragment (PE38). It is used to treat T cell leukemias and lymphomas. To make LMB-2 less immunogenic, we introduced a large deletion in domain II and six point mutations in domain III that were previously shown to reduce T cell activation in other RITs. We found that unlike other RITs, deletion of domain II from LMB-2 severely compromised its activity. Rather than deletion, we identified T cell epitopes in domain II and used alanine substitutions to identify point mutations that diminished those epitopes. The novel RIT, LMB-142 contains a 38kDa toxin and nine point mutations that diminished T cell response to the corresponding peptides by an average of 75%. LMB-142 has good cytotoxic activity and has lower nonspecific toxicity in mice. LMB-142 should be more efficient in cancer therapy because more treatment cycles can be given.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronit Mazor
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Gilad Kaplan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Dong Park
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Youjin Jang
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Fred Lee
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Robert Kreitman
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
| | - Ira Pastan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4264, USA.
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19
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Kaplan G, Lee F, Onda M, Kolyvas E, Bhardwaj G, Baker D, Pastan I. Protection of the Furin Cleavage Site in Low-Toxicity Immunotoxins Based on Pseudomonas Exotoxin A. Toxins (Basel) 2016; 8:E217. [PMID: 27463727 PMCID: PMC4999843 DOI: 10.3390/toxins8080217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2016] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recombinant immunotoxins (RITs) are fusions of an Fv-based targeting moiety and a toxin. Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) has been used to make several immunotoxins that have been evaluated in clinical trials. Immunogenicity of the bacterial toxin and off-target toxicity have limited the efficacy of these immunotoxins. To address these issues, we have previously made RITs in which the Fv is connected to domain III (PE24) by a furin cleavage site (FCS), thereby removing unneeded sequences of domain II. However, the PE24 containing RITs do not contain the naturally occurring disulfide bond around the furin cleavage sequence, because it was removed when domain II was deleted. This could potentially allow PE24 containing immunotoxins to be cleaved and inactivated before internalization by cell surface furin or other proteases in the blood stream or tumor microenvironment. Here, we describe five new RITs in which a disulfide bond is engineered to protect the FCS. The most active of these, SS1-Fab-DS3-PE24, shows a longer serum half-life than an RIT without the disulfide bond and has the same anti-tumor activity, despite being less cytotoxic in vitro. These results have significance for the production of de-immunized, low toxicity, PE24-based immunotoxins with a longer serum half-life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilad Kaplan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Fred Lee
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Masanori Onda
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Emily Kolyvas
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Gaurav Bhardwaj
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
- Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
| | - David Baker
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
- Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
| | - Ira Pastan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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20
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Sokolova EA, Stremovskiy OA, Zdobnova TA, Balalaeva IV, Deyev SM. Recombinant Immunotoxin 4D5scFv-PE40 for Targeted Therapy of HER2-Positive Tumors. Acta Naturae 2015; 7:93-6. [PMID: 26798495 PMCID: PMC4717253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recombinant immunotoxins are extremely promising agents for the targeted therapy of tumors with a certain molecular profile. In this work, we studied the properties of a new recombinant HER2-specific immunotoxin composed of the scFv antibody and a fragment of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (4D5scFv-PE40). High affinity of the immunotoxin for the HER2 tumor marker, its selective cytotoxicity against HER2-overexpressing cells, and its storage stability were demonstrated. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the 4D5scFv-PE40 immunotoxin for HER2-overexpressing cancer cells was 2.5-3 orders of magnitude lower compared to that for CHO cells not expressing this tumor marker and was 2.5-3 orders of magnitude lower than IC50 of free PE40 for HER2-overexpressing cancer cells. These findings provide a basis for expecting in the long run high therapeutic index values of the 4D5scFv-PE40 immunotoxin for its use in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- E. A. Sokolova
- Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, pr. Gagarina 23, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
- Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, 117997, Moscow, Russia
| | - O. A. Stremovskiy
- Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, 117997, Moscow, Russia
| | - T. A. Zdobnova
- Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, pr. Gagarina 23, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
| | - I. V. Balalaeva
- Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, pr. Gagarina 23, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
| | - S. M. Deyev
- Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, pr. Gagarina 23, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
- Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, 117997, Moscow, Russia
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21
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Klausz K, Kellner C, Derer S, Valerius T, Staudinger M, Burger R, Gramatzki M, Peipp M. The novel multispecies Fc-specific Pseudomonas exotoxin A fusion protein α-Fc-ETA' enables screening of antibodies for immunotoxin development. J Immunol Methods 2015; 418:75-83. [PMID: 25701195 DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2015.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2014] [Revised: 02/10/2015] [Accepted: 02/10/2015] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Immunoconjugates that deliver cytotoxic payloads to cancer cells represent a promising class of therapeutic agents which are intensively investigated in various clinical applications. Prerequisites for the generation of effective immunoconjugates are antibodies which efficiently deliver the respective cytotoxic payload. To facilitate the selection of human or mouse antibodies that display favorable characteristics as immunotoxins, we developed a novel Pseudomonas exotoxin A (ETA)-based screening protein. The α-Fc-ETA' consists of a multispecies-specific Fc-binding domain antibody genetically fused to a truncated ETA version (ETA'). α-Fc-ETA' non-covalently bound to human and mouse antibodies but did not form immune complexes with bovine immunoglobulins. In combination with antibodies harboring human or mouse Fc domains α-Fc-ETA' inhibited proliferation of antigen-expressing tumor cells. The cytotoxic effects were strictly antibody dependent and were observed with low α-Fc-ETA' concentrations. Mouse antibodies directed against CD7 and CD317/HM1.24 that previously had been used for the generation of functional recombinant immunotoxins, also showed activity in combination with α-Fc-ETA' by inhibiting growth of antigen-positive myeloma and leukemia cell lines. In contrast, α-kappa-ETA', a similarly designed human kappa light chain-specific fusion protein, was only specifically active in combination with antibodies containing a human kappa light chain. Thus, the novel α-Fc-ETA' fusion protein is broadly applicable in screening antibodies and Fc-containing antibody derivatives from different species to select for candidates with favorable characteristics for immunotoxin development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Klausz
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Christian Kellner
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Stefanie Derer
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Thomas Valerius
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Matthias Staudinger
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Renate Burger
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Martin Gramatzki
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Matthias Peipp
- Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy, 2nd Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
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Verdurmen WPR, Luginbühl M, Honegger A, Plückthun A. Efficient cell-specific uptake of binding proteins into the cytoplasm through engineered modular transport systems. J Control Release 2015; 200:13-22. [PMID: 25526701 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2014.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2014] [Revised: 12/13/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Through advances in protein scaffold engineering and selection technologies, highly specific binding proteins, which fold under reducing conditions, can be generated against virtually all targets. Despite tremendous therapeutic opportunities, intracellular applications are hindered by difficulties associated with achieving cytosolic delivery, compounded by even correctly measuring it. Here, we addressed cytosolic delivery systematically through the development of a biotin ligase-based assay that objectively quantifies cytosolic delivery in a generic fashion. We developed modular transport systems that consist of a designed ankyrin repeat protein (DARPin) for receptor targeting and a different DARPin for intracellular recognition and a bacterial toxin-derived component for cytosolic translocation. We show that both anthrax pores and the translocation domain of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (ETA) efficiently deliver DARPins into the cytosol. We found that the cargo must not exceed a threshold thermodynamic stability for anthrax pores, which can be addressed by engineering, while the ETA pathway does not appear to have this restriction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wouter P R Verdurmen
- Dept of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Manuel Luginbühl
- Dept of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Annemarie Honegger
- Dept of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Andreas Plückthun
- Dept of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Gao S, Song J, Chen F, Wang Q, Liu X, Ren H, Li Y, Meng X, Zhou Y, Lu S, Hu P, Tong W, Liu Z. A novel immunotoxin - rCCK8PE38 targeting of CCK-R overexpressed colon cancers. J Drug Target 2015; 23:462-8. [PMID: 25673265 DOI: 10.3109/1061186x.2015.1009073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cholecystokinin (CCK) receptors are overexpressed in numerous human cancers, such as pancreatic, colon and gastric cancers. Previous studies have shown that the specific receptor-binding property of CCK for CCK receptors (CCKRs) can be exploited to produce immunotoxins (ITs) that target cancer cells overexpressing CCK receptors. PURPOSE Construct a new IT-targeting CCKR-overexpressing colon cancers. METHODS To construct the CCKR-targeted IT, a reverse CCK8 peptide was fused with a modified 38-kDa truncated form of the Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE38KDEL). An efficient immunoaffinity purification procedure was used to produce a PE38-based IT. Several analyses, including CCK8 competition and indirect immunofluorescence assays, were performed to confirm the interaction between rCCK8 and CCKR. After cytotoxic assays on several cell lines, the anti-tumor activity of the new IT was detected in nude mice. RESULTS The rCCK8PE38 IT showed specific cytotoxicity for two colon cancer cell lines and one gastric cancer cell line. After purification, 18-26 mg of pure rCCK8PE38 per 1 L of culture was obtained. Purified rCCK8PE38 showed high cytotoxicity in colon cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 0.8-3.5 ng/mL. The results of the CCK8 competition and indirect immunofluorescence assays showed that rCCK8 had a specific interaction with CCKR. Nude mice inoculated with HCT-8 tumor xenografts were treated with rCCK8PE38, which efficiently decreased the tumor size in those mice. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION All of these data suggest that rCCK8PE38 has potential as a new immunotherapy agent. Furthermore, the results of this study further support the high value of the immunoaffinity method for IT purification procedures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiqi Gao
- Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, Jilin University , Changchun , PR China
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Chatterjee D, Chandran B, Berger EA. Selective killing of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus lytically infected cells with a recombinant immunotoxin targeting the viral gpK8.1A envelope glycoprotein. MAbs 2012; 4:233-42. [PMID: 22377676 PMCID: PMC3361659 DOI: 10.4161/mabs.4.2.19262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2011] [Revised: 12/30/2011] [Accepted: 01/04/2012] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV, human herpesvirus 8) is etiologically associated with three neoplastic syndromes: Kaposi sarcoma and the uncommon HIV-associated B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman disease. The incidence of the latter B-cell pathology has been increasing in spite of antiretroviral therapy; its association with lytic virus replication has prompted interest in therapeutic strategies aimed at this phase of the virus life cycle. We designed and expressed a recombinant immunotoxin (2014-PE38) targeting the gpK8.1A viral glycoprotein expressed on the surface of the virion and infected cells. We show that this immunotoxin selectively kills KSHV-infected cells in dose-dependent fashion, resulting in major reductions of infectious virus release. The immunotoxin and ganciclovir, an inhibitor of viral DNA replication, showed marked reciprocal potentiation of antiviral activities. These results suggest that the immunotoxin, alone or in combination, may represent a new approach to treat diseases associated with KSHV lytic replication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deboeeta Chatterjee
- Laboratory of Viral Diseases; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD USA
| | - Bala Chandran
- Departiment of Microbiology and Immunology; Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; Chicago, IL USA
| | - Edward A Berger
- Laboratory of Viral Diseases; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD USA
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Kowalski M, Entwistle J, Cizeau J, Niforos D, Loewen S, Chapman W, MacDonald GC. A Phase I study of an intravesically administered immunotoxin targeting EpCAM for the treatment of nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer in BCGrefractory and BCG-intolerant patients. Drug Des Devel Ther 2010; 4:313-20. [PMID: 21151619 PMCID: PMC2998804 DOI: 10.2147/dddt.s14071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE A Phase I dose-escalation study was performed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of the immunotoxin VB4-845 in patients with nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) refractory to or intolerant of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Secondary objectives included evaluation of the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and efficacy of VB4-845. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty-four patients with Grade 2 or 3, stage Ta or T1 transitional cell carcinoma or in situ carcinoma, either refractory to or intolerant of BCG therapy, were enrolled. Treatment was administered in ascending dose cohorts ranging from 0.1 to 30.16 mg. After receiving weekly instillations of VB4-845 to the bladder via catheter for 6 consecutive weeks, patients were followed for 4-6 weeks post-therapy and assessed at week 12. RESULTS An MTD was not determined, as a dose-limiting toxicity was not identified over the dose range tested. VB4-845 therapy was safe and well tolerated with most adverse events reported as mild; as a result, no patients were removed from the study in response to toxicity. By the end of the study, the majority of patients had developed antibodies to the exotoxin portion of VB4-845. A complete response was achieved in 39% of patients at the 12-week time point. CONCLUSIONS VB4-845 dosed on a weekly basis for 6 weeks was very well tolerated at all dose levels. Although an MTD was not determined at the doses administered, VB4-845 showed evidence of an antitumor effect that warrants further clinical investigation for the treatment of NMIBC in this patient population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Kowalski
- Viventia Biotechnologies Inc., Mississauga, ON, Canada
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