Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor c-Met are associated with increased aggressiveness of tumors and poor prognostic outcome of patients with cancer. Here, we report the development and ...characterization of therapeutic anti-HGF (αHGF)-Nanobodies and their potential for positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging to assess HGF expression in vivo. Two αHGF-Nanobodies designated 1E2 and 6E10 were identified, characterized, and molecularly fused to an albumin-binding Nanobody unit (Alb8) to obtain serum half-life extension. The resulting Nanobody formats were radiolabeled with the positron emitter zirconium-89 ((89)Zr, t(1/2;) = 78 hours), administered to nude mice bearing U87 MG glioblastoma xenografts, and their biodistribution was assessed. In addition, their therapeutic effect was evaluated in the same animal model at doses of 10, 30, or 100 μg per mouse. The (89)Zr-Nanobodies showed similar biodistribution with selective tumor targeting. For example, 1E2-Alb8 showed decreased blood levels of 12.6%ID/g ± 0.6%ID/g, 7.2%ID/g ± 1.0%ID/g, 3.4%ID/g ± 0.3%ID/g, and 0.3%ID/g ± 0.1%ID/g at 1, 2, 3, and 7 days after injection, whereas tumor uptake levels remained relatively stable at these time points: 7.8%ID/g ± 1.1%ID/g, 8.9%ID/g ± 1.0%ID/g, 8.7%ID/g ± 1.5%ID/g, and 7.2%ID/g ±1.6%ID/g. Uptake in normal tissues was lower than in tumor, except for kidneys. In a therapy study, all Nanobody-treated mice showed tumor growth delay compared with the control saline group. In the 100-μg group, four of six mice were cured after treatment with 1E2-Alb8 and 73 days follow-up, and three of six mice when treated with 6E10-Alb8. These results provide evidence that Nanobodies 1E2-Alb8 and 6E10-Alb8 have potential for therapy and PET imaging of HGF-expressing tumors.
Abstract Respirovirus 3 is a leading cause of severe acute respiratory infections in vulnerable human populations. Entry into host cells is facilitated by the attachment glycoprotein and the fusion ...glycoprotein (F). Because of its crucial role, F represents an attractive therapeutic target. Here, we identify 13 F-directed heavy-chain-only antibody fragments that neutralize recombinant respirovirus 3. High-resolution cryo-EM structures of antibody fragments bound to the prefusion conformation of F reveal three distinct, previously uncharacterized epitopes. All three antibody fragments bind quaternary epitopes on F, suggesting mechanisms for neutralization that may include stabilization of the prefusion conformation. Studies in cotton rats demonstrate the prophylactic efficacy of these antibody fragments in reducing viral load in the lungs and nasal passages. These data highlight the potential of heavy-chain-only antibody fragments as effective interventions against respirovirus 3 infection and identify neutralizing epitopes that can be targeted for therapeutic development.
Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an important respiratory pathogen for which no licensed antivirals or vaccines exist. Single-domain antibodies represent promising antiviral biologics that can be ...easily produced and formatted. We describe the isolation and detailed characterization of two hMPV-neutralizing single-domain antibodies that are directed against the fusion protein F. One of these single-domain antibodies broadly neutralizes hMPV A and B strains, can prevent proteolytic maturation of F, and binds to an epitope in the F trimer interface. This suggests that hMPV pre-F undergoes trimer opening or "breathing" on infectious virions, exposing a vulnerable site for neutralizing antibodies. Finally, we show that this single-domain antibody, fused to a human IgG1 Fc, can protect cotton rats against hMPV replication, an important finding for potential future clinical applications.
Evolution of eukaryotes is mediated by sexual recombination of parental genomes. Crossovers occur in random, but homologous, positions at a frequency that depends on DNA length. As exons occupy only ...1% of the human genome and introns about 24%, by far most of the crossovers occur between exons, rather than inside. The natural process of creating new combinations of exons by intronic recombination is called exon shuffling. Our group is developing in vitro formats for exon shuffling and applying these to the directed evolution of proteins. Based on the splice frame junctions, nine classes of exons and three classes of introns can be distinguished. Splice frame diagrams of natural genes show how the splice frame rules govern exon shuffling. Here, we review various approaches to constructing libraries of exon-shuffled genes. For example, exon shuffling of human pharmaceutical proteins can generate libraries in which all of the sequences are fully human, without the point mutations that raise concerns about immunogenicity.
Multiple therapeutic agonists of death receptor 5 (DR5) have been developed and are under clinical evaluation. Although these agonists demonstrate significant anti-tumor activity in preclinical ...models, the clinical efficacy in human cancer patients has been notably disappointing. One possible explanation might be that the current classes of therapeutic molecules are not sufficiently potent to elicit significant response in patients, particularly for dimeric antibody agonists that require secondary cross-linking via Fcγ receptors expressed on immune cells to achieve optimal clustering of DR5. To overcome this limitation, a novel multivalent Nanobody approach was taken with the goal of generating a significantly more potent DR5 agonist. In the present study, we show that trivalent DR5 targeting Nanobodies mimic the activity of natural ligand, and furthermore, increasing the valency of domains to tetramer and pentamer markedly increased potency of cell killing on tumor cells, with pentamers being more potent than tetramers in vitro. Increased potency was attributed to faster kinetics of death-inducing signaling complex assembly and caspase-8 and caspase-3 activation. In vivo, multivalent Nanobody molecules elicited superior anti-tumor activity compared to a conventional DR5 agonist antibody, including the ability to induce tumor regression in an insensitive patient-derived primary pancreatic tumor model. Furthermore, complete responses to Nanobody treatment were obtained in up to 50% of patient-derived primary pancreatic and colon tumor models, suggesting that multivalent DR5 Nanobodies may represent a significant new therapeutic modality for targeting death receptor signaling.
Antibodies have been a focus of drug development since the approval of Orthoclone
® OKT3 in 1986. However these large biologics are not without limitations. This has led to new technologies which ...harness the power of the immune system but provide distinct advantages over conventional antibody approaches. Nanobodies
® are llama-derived proteins with unique characteristics well suited for drug discovery. The Nanobody platform has proven robust with four Nanobodies currently in clinical development.
Ming-Qiang Zhang – Zhang-Jiang High-Tech Park, Pudong New District, Shanghai, China
Broadly neutralizing antibodies against highly variable pathogens have stimulated the design of vaccines and therapeutics. We report the use of diverse camelid single-domain antibodies to influenza ...virus hemagglutinin to generate multidomain antibodies with impressive breadth and potency. Multidomain antibody MD3606 protects mice against influenza A and B infection when administered intravenously or expressed locally from a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector. Crystal and single-particle electron microscopy structures of these antibodies with hemagglutinins from influenza A and B viruses reveal binding to highly conserved epitopes. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that multidomain antibodies targeting multiple epitopes exhibit enhanced virus cross-reactivity and potency. In combination with adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery, they may provide an effective strategy to prevent infection with influenza virus and other highly variable pathogens.
Introduction
The activation of factor X is one of the steps in the coagulation cascade that is driven by the assembly of an activated serine protease with a membrane-bound cofactor. In the initial ...phase of coagulation, factor X is activated by the complex of activated factor VII (factor VIIa) and tissue factor. Subsequently, during the so-called propagation phase, factor X activation is catalyzed by the complex of activated factor IX (factor IXa) and activated factor VIII (factor VIIIa). In these complexes, factor VIIa and factor IXa are the factor X-activating enzymes, whereas tissue factor and factor VIIIa serve as non-enzymatic cofactors.
1
Factors VIIa and IXa are highly homologous to other cofactor-dependent enzymes, such as activated factor X (factor Xa) and activated protein C, both in amino acid sequence, domain organization, and three-dimensional structure.
2
Factor VIIa and IXa further share low or negligible activity towards their natural substrate factor X, unless in complex with their physiological cofactors.
Although tissue factor and factor VIIIa serve similar roles as biological amplifiers, they are structurally different. Tissue factor is a small, transmembrane protein with an extracellular part comprising 219 amino acids. Factor VIII is much larger (2,332 amino acids), circulates in plasma, and requires proteolytic processing to exert its biological activity.
3
When cofactors are assembled with their respective enzymes, a dramatic increase in enzymatic activity occurs. The underlying molecular mechanism, however, remains poorly understood.
During the past few years, remarkable progress has been made in understanding the molecular details of enzyme-cofactor assembly within the coagulation cascade. Crystallography has provided high-resolution structures of tissue factor
4
and the various cofactor-dependent coagulation enzymes.
2
Moreover, the crystal structure of the factor VIIa—tissue factor complex has been resolved and has allowed the identification of the molecular sites involved in enzyme-cofactor interaction.
5,6
Such details are still lacking, however, for the factor IXa—factor VIIIa complex. Current views are derived from three-dimensional models generated by homology modeling based on structurally-related proteins, such as nitrite reductase,
7
ceruloplasmin,
8
and galactose oxidase.
9
Despite their inherent limitations, these models greatly facilitate the interpretation of previous functional studies on factor X activation. As such, the availability of molecular models may be considered an important step toward resolving the structure of the factor IXa—factor VIIIa complex and understanding the role of complex assembly and defects thereof. This chapter provides an overview of the current developments in this field.
Insertions in surface loops bordering the substrate-binding groove have been shown to play a major role in the interaction of serine proteases with their cognate inhibitors and substrates. In the ...present study, we investigated the functional role of factor IX insertion loop 256−268, and in particular of residues Asn264 and Lys265 therein. To this end, the purified and activated mutants des-(N264,K265)-FIX and FIX-K265A were compared to normal factor IXa with regard to a number of functional properties. The catalytic efficiency of des-(N264,K265)-FIXa and FIXa-K265A toward the amide substrate CH3SO2-Leu-Gly-Arg-pNA was 2−3-fold increased relative to that of normal factor IXa. Comparison of the activities of normal and mutant factor IXa toward a series of closely related amide substrates indicates that mutation of residues Asn264−Lys265 influences the interactions in the S2-binding site. The mutations in loop 256−268 also increased the susceptibility of factor IXa to antithrombin inhibition by approximately 3-fold. Factor X activation experiments in the absence of factor VIIIa revealed that the catalytic efficiency of des-(N264,K265)-FIXa and FIXa-K265A was about 20 times higher than that of normal factor IXa. In the presence of factor VIIIa, however, the activity toward factor X was similar to that of normal factor IXa. The reduced sensitivity of the factor IXa mutants to factor VIIIa was neither due to an increase in factor IXa-dependent inactivation of factor VIIIa, nor to a lower affinity for this cofactor. Overall, these data demonstrate that loop 256−268 restricts the activity of factor IXa toward both synthetic and natural substrates. Complex formation with factor VIIIa alleviates the inhibitory effect of this insertion loop on the activation of FX.
Broadly neutralizing antibodies against highly variable pathogens have stimulated the design of novel vaccines and therapeutics. Here, we report on diverse camelid single-domain antibodies to ...influenza hemagglutinin from which we generated multi-domain antibodies with unprecedented breadth and potency. Multi-domain antibody MD3606 protects mice against influenza A and B infection when administered intravenously or expressed locally from a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector. Crystal and single-particle EM structures of these antibodies with hemagglutinins from influenza A and B viruses reveal binding to highly conserved epitopes. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that multi-domain antibodies targeting multiple epitopes exhibit enhanced virus cross-reactivity and potency. In combination with adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery, they may provide a groundbreaking new strategy to prevent infection with influenza virus and other highly variable pathogens.
Universal multi-domain influenza antibodies or Multi-domain antibodies provide universal protection against influenza A and B viruses
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