Co-culture platform for tuning of cancer receptor density allows for evaluation of bispecific immune cell engagers

Cancer immunotherapy, where a patient's immune system is harnessed to eradicate cancer cells selectively, is a leading strategy for cancer treatment. However, successes with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are hampered by reported systemic and organ-specific toxicities and by two-thirds of the patients being non-responders or subsequently acquiring resistance to approved ICIs. Hence substantial efforts are invested in discovering novel targeted immunotherapies aimed at reduced side-effects and improved potency. One way is utilizing the dual targeting feature of bispecific antibodies, which have made them increasingly popular for cancer immunotherapy. Easy and predictive screening methods for activation ranking of candidate drugs in tumor contra non-tumor environments are however lacking. Herein, we present a cell-based assay mimicking the tumor microenvironment by co-culturing B cells with engineered human embryonic kidney 293 T cells (HEK293T), presenting a controllable density of platelet-derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ). A target density panel with three different surface protein levels on HEK293T cells was established by genetic constructs carrying regulatory elements limiting RNA translation of PDGFRβ. We employed a bispecific antibody-affibody construct called an AffiMab capable of binding PDGFRβ on cancer cells and CD40 expressed by B cells as a model. Specific activation of CD40-mediated signaling of immune cells was demonstrated with the two highest receptor-expressing cell lines, Level 2/3 and Level 4, while low-to-none in the low-expressing cell lines. The concept of receptor tuning and the presented co-culture protocol may be of general utility for assessing and developing novel bi-specific antibodies for immuno-oncology applications.

Abstract 2929: Modular peptide cargo delivery by targeting CD40 enables ligandome driven, precision immunotherapy via the Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADAC™) technology

Agonistic anti-CD40 therapy has shown impressive efficacy in preclinical murine models, models inert to toxicity of high systemic drug exposure. Clinical data consist of pharmacodynamic responses reported as non-specific cytokine release, transient drop of CD40-expressing cells in blood and induction of co-stimulatory ligands/receptors on antigen-presenting cells, but so far clinically meaningful efficacy data on monotherapy use is lacking. Clinical data also indicate a bell-shaped dose-response curve, with excessive immune activation leading to immune exhaustion when combined with check-point inhibitors[1]. Intratumoral route of administration, bispecific antibodies for tumor drug localization or Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) carrying antigenic cargo are or have been assessed, but have associated clinical utility enigmas. Herein we present a novel solution ensuring modular peptide delivery along with an efficient T cell priming strategy; a bivalent anti-CD40 agonistic antibody equipped with a peptide-binding single chain variable fragment (scFv) that binds a short peptide tag (pTag) in the low nM range. The resulting drug strategy makes use of synthetic long peptide production of any tumor-associated antigen (TAA) of choice where the pTag itself ensures simple conjugate production to the protein, through affinity linkage, leading to a final rapid in-hospital mixing step. Data suggest that the novel candidate drug (STRIKE2001), now developed based on the ADAC concept[2], retains similar agonistic activity in its bispecific, IgG2 format and does not inhibit CD40L binding to the CD40 protein. Data further show impressive expansion of endogenous tumor-specific T cells (as measured by tetramer staining), along with effective anti-tumor responses in the TC1 model. In addition, by using the subcutaneous delivery strategy CD40 agonist exposure to liver and spleen is vastly reduced, limiting systemic immune toxicity/exhaustion risks[3].

[1] Padrón, L.J., et al. Sotigalimab and/or nivolumab with chemotherapy in first-line metastatic pancreatic cancer: clinical and immunologic analyses from the randomized phase 2 PRINCE trial. Nat Med 28, 1167-1177 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01829-9

[2] Eltahir, M., et al. (2022), An Adaptable Antibody-Based Platform for Flexible Synthetic Peptide Delivery Built on Agonistic CD40 Antibodies. Adv. Therap., 5: 2200008. https://doi.org/10.1002/adtp.202200008

[3] Sandin, L., et al. Locally Delivered CD40 Agonist Antibody Accumulates in Secondary Lymphoid Organs and Eradicates Experimental Disseminated Bladder Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res 1 January 2014; 2 (1): 80-90. https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0067

Citation Format: Aman Mebrahtu, Ida Lauren, Rosanne Veerman, Alexandros Kostakis, Gözde Gucluler Akpinar, Oskar Andersson, Lindvi Gudmundsdotter, Tina Furebring, Helena Persson, Pierre Donnes, Johan Rockberg, Sara Mangsbo. Modular peptide cargo delivery by targeting CD40 enables ligandome driven, precision immunotherapy via the Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADAC™) technology [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 2929.

A PDGFRB- and CD40-targeting bispecific AffiMab induces stroma-targeted immune cell activation

CD40 agonism by systemic administration of CD40 monoclonal antibodies has been explored in clinical trials for immunotherapy of cancer, uncovering enormous potential, but also dosing challenges in terms of systemic toxicity. CD40-dependent activation of antigen presenting cells is dependent on crosslinking of the CD40 receptor. Here we exploited this requisite by coupling crosslinking to cancer-receptor density by dual-targeting of CD40 and platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRB), which is highly expressed in the stroma of various types of tumors. A novel PDGFRBxCD40 Fc-silenced bispecific AffiMab was developed to this end to test whether it is possible to activate CD40 in a PDGFRB-targeted manner. A PDGFRB-binding Affibody molecule was fused to each heavy chain of an Fc-silenced CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody to obtain a bispecific "AffiMab". Binding of the AffiMab to both PDGFRB and CD40 was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance, bio-layer interferometry and flow cytometry, through analysis of cells expressing respective target. In a reporter assay, the AffiMab displayed increased CD40 potency in the presence of PDGFRB-conjugated beads, in a manner dependent on PDGFRB amount/bead. To test the concept in immunologically relevant systems with physiological levels of CD40 expression, the AffiMab was tested in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) and B cells. Expression of activation markers was increased in moDCs specifically in the presence of PDGFRB-conjugated beads upon AffiMab treatment, while the Fc-silenced CD40 mAb did not stimulate CD40 activation. As expected, the AffiMab did not activate moDCs in the presence of unconjugated beads. Finally, in a co-culture experiment, the AffiMab activated moDCs and B cells in the presence of PDGFRB-expressing cells, but not in co-cultures with PDGFRB-negative cells. Collectively, these results suggest the possibility to activate CD40 in a PDGFRB-targeted manner in vitro. This encourages further investigation and the development of such an approach for the treatment of solid cancers.

Abstract 2890: The development of an Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADAC) targeting CD40 for a flexible therapeutic peptide cargo delivery to dendritic cells

CD40 agonistic antibodies targeting antigen-presenting cells rely on simultaneous antigen presentation for optimal efficacy, as the co-stimulatory signal alone will not lead to T cell activation. Herein we have developed a novel Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADAC), a refinement of a traditional Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) with a focus on tailored drug design. The cargo for ADAC is synthetic long peptides that can be modified with the profiled genetic data for each patient. The ADAC technology relies on a high-affinity interaction between a short non-immunogenic peptide-tag (pTag) and a single-chain fragment (scFv) and the targeting of CD40 expressing antigen-presenting cells. As a proof-of-concept study, we have generated data supporting a ~20 times improved half-life of peptide therapeutics bound up by the ADAC technology (in vitro), translating to improved peptide half-life in vivo along with a superior expansion of T cells in vitro and in vivo, compared to peptide and antibody mixed but not interacting physically. Through phage-display selection screening of novel CD40 agonistic antibodies, we identified a unique clone (STRIKE-1001). STRIKE-1001 binds a defined structural epitope (HDX-MS) of CD40 in a low nM range and is agonistic in an IgG2 format. Similar to selicrelumab, STRIKE-1001 does not block CD40L binding to Fc-CD40. STRIKE-1001 shows a dose-dependent agonistic activity (EC50 of ~28 nM based on measured induction of HLA-DR expression) on human DCs and can be designed into a bispecific antibody without loss of agonistic activity. STRIKE-1001 is currently incorporated into the ADAC platform to be used as the first-in-class candidate for flexible peptide cargo delivery ensuring T cell priming and expansion in vivo as a means to transform CD40 agonistic antibody to clinically relevant drug candidates.

Citation Format: Ida Laurén, Mohamed Eltahir, Aman Mebrahtu, Rosanne Veerman, Juan Astorga, Aljona Saleh, Jimmy Ytterberg, Annika Lindqvist, Leif Dahllund, Anders Olsson, Oskar Andersson, Johan Rockberg, Helena Persson, Sara Mangsbo. The development of an Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADAC) targeting CD40 for a flexible therapeutic peptide cargo delivery to dendritic cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2890.

Harnessing secretory pathway differences between HEK293 and CHO to rescue production of difficult to express proteins

Biologics represent the fastest growing group of therapeutics, but many advanced recombinant protein moieties remain difficult to produce. Here, we identify metabolic engineering targets limiting expression of recombinant human proteins through a systems biology analysis of the transcriptomes of CHO and HEK293 during recombinant expression. In an expression comparison of 24 difficult to express proteins, one third of the challenging human proteins displayed improved secretion upon host cell swapping from CHO to HEK293. Guided by a comprehensive transcriptomics comparison between cell lines, especially highlighting differences in secretory pathway utilization, a co-expression screening of 21 secretory pathway components validated ATF4, SRP9, JUN, PDIA3 and HSPA8 as productivity boosters in CHO. Moreover, more heavily glycosylated products benefitted more from the elevated activities of the N- and O-glycosyltransferases found in HEK293. Collectively, our results demonstrate the utilization of HEK293 for expression rescue of human proteins and suggest a methodology for identification of secretory pathway components for metabolic engineering of HEK293 and CHO.

Secretome screening reveals immunomodulating functions of IFNα-7, PAP and GDF-7 on regulatory T-cells

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are the key cells regulating peripheral autoreactive T lymphocytes. Tregs exert their function by suppressing effector T cells. Tregs have been shown to play essential roles in the control of a variety of physiological and pathological immune responses. However, Tregs are unstable and can lose the expression of FOXP3 and suppressive functions as a consequence of outer stimuli. Available literature suggests that secreted proteins regulate Treg functional states, such as differentiation, proliferation and suppressive function. Identification of secreted proteins that affect Treg cell function are highly interesting for both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes in either hyperactive or immunosuppressed populations. Here, we report a phenotypic screening of a human secretome library in human Treg cells utilising a high throughput flow cytometry technology. Screening a library of 575 secreted proteins allowed us to identify proteins stabilising or destabilising the Treg phenotype as suggested by changes in expression of Treg marker proteins FOXP3 and/or CTLA4. Four proteins including GDF-7, IL-10, PAP and IFNα-7 were identified as positive regulators that increased FOXP3 and/or CTLA4 expression. PAP is a phosphatase. A catalytic-dead version of the protein did not induce an increase in FOXP3 expression. Ten interferon proteins were identified as negative regulators that reduced the expression of both CTLA4 and FOXP3, without affecting cell viability. A transcriptomics analysis supported the differential effect on Tregs of IFNα-7 versus other IFNα proteins, indicating differences in JAK/STAT signaling. A conformational model experiment confirmed a tenfold reduction in IFNAR-mediated ISG transcription for IFNα-7 compared to IFNα-10. This further strengthened the theory of a shift in downstream messaging upon external stimulation. As a summary, we have identified four positive regulators of FOXP3 and/or CTLA4 expression. Further exploration of these Treg modulators and their method of action has the potential to aid the discovery of novel therapies for both autoimmune and infectious diseases as well as for cancer.

Low Shear Stress Increases Recombinant Protein Production and High Shear Stress Increases Apoptosis in Human Cells

Human embryonic kidney cells HEK293 can be used for the production of therapeutic glycoproteins requiring human post-translational modifications. High cell density perfusion processes are advantageous for such production but are challenging due to the shear sensitivity of HEK293 cells. To understand the impact of hollow filter cell separation devices, cells were cultured in bioreactors operated with tangential flow filtration (TFF) or alternating tangential flow filtration (ATF) at various flow rates. The average theoretical velocity profile in these devices showed a lower shear stress for ATF by a factor 0.637 compared to TFF. This was experimentally validated and, furthermore, transcriptomic evaluation provided insights into the underlying cellular processes. High shear caused cellular stress leading to apoptosis by three pathways, i.e. endoplasmic reticulum stress, cytoskeleton reorganization, and extrinsic signaling pathways. Positive effects of mild shear stress were observed, with increased recombinant erythropoietin production and increased gene expression associated with transcription and protein phosphorylation.

Systematic use of synthetic 5'-UTR RNA structures to tune protein translation improves yield and quality of complex proteins in mammalian cell factories

Predictably regulating protein expression levels to improve recombinant protein production has become an important tool, but is still rarely applied to engineer mammalian cells. We therefore sought to set-up an easy-to-implement toolbox to facilitate fast and reliable regulation of protein expression in mammalian cells by introducing defined RNA hairpins, termed 'regulation elements (RgE)', in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) to impact translation efficiency. RgEs varying in thermodynamic stability, GC-content and position were added to the 5'-UTR of a fluorescent reporter gene. Predictable translation dosage over two orders of magnitude in mammalian cell lines of hamster and human origin was confirmed by flow cytometry. Tuning heavy chain expression of an IgG with the RgEs to various levels eventually resulted in up to 3.5-fold increased titers and fewer IgG aggregates and fragments in CHO cells. Co-expression of a therapeutic Arylsulfatase-A with RgE-tuned levels of the required helper factor SUMF1 demonstrated that the maximum specific sulfatase activity was already attained at lower SUMF1 expression levels, while specific production rates steadily decreased with increasing helper expression. In summary, we show that defined 5'-UTR RNA-structures represent a valid tool to systematically tune protein expression levels in mammalian cells and eventually help to optimize recombinant protein expression.