Functional patient-derived organoid screenings identify MCLA-158 as a therapeutic EGFR × LGR5 bispecific antibody with efficacy in epithelial tumors.

Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) recapitulate tumor architecture, contain cancer stem cells and have predictive value supporting personalized medicine. Here we describe a large-scale functional screen of dual-targeting bispecific antibodies (bAbs) on a heterogeneous colorectal cancer PDO biobank and paired healthy colonic mucosa samples. More than 500 therapeutic bAbs generated against Wingless-related integration site (WNT) and receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) targets were functionally evaluated by high-content imaging to capture the complexity of PDO responses. Our drug discovery strategy resulted in the generation of MCLA-158, a bAb that specifically triggers epidermal growth factor receptor degradation in leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5-positive (LGR5+) cancer stem cells but shows minimal toxicity toward healthy LGR5+ colon stem cells. MCLA-158 exhibits therapeutic properties such as growth inhibition of KRAS-mutant colorectal cancers, blockade of metastasis initiation and suppression of tumor outgrowth in preclinical models for several epithelial cancer types.

A human CD137×PD-L1 bispecific antibody promotes anti-tumor immunity via context-dependent T cell costimulation and checkpoint blockade.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrate clinical activity in many tumor types, however, only a fraction of patients benefit. Combining CD137 agonists with these inhibitors increases anti-tumor activity preclinically, but attempts to translate these observations to the clinic have been hampered by systemic toxicity. Here we describe a human CD137xPD-L1 bispecific antibody, MCLA-145, identified through functional screening of agonist- and immune checkpoint inhibitor arm combinations. MCLA-145 potently activates T cells at sub-nanomolar concentrations, even under suppressive conditions, and enhances T cell priming, differentiation and memory recall responses. In vivo, MCLA-145 anti-tumor activity is superior to immune checkpoint inhibitor comparators and linked to recruitment and intra-tumor expansion of CD8 + T cells. No graft-versus-host-disease is observed in contrast to other antibodies inhibiting the PD-1 and PD-L1 pathway. Non-human primates treated with 100 mg/kg/week of MCLA-145 show no adverse effects. The conditional activation of CD137 signaling by MCLA-145, triggered by neighboring cells expressing >5000 copies of PD-L1, may provide both safety and potency advantages.

MCLA-117, a CLEC12AxCD3 bispecific antibody targeting a leukaemic stem cell antigen, induces T cell-mediated AML blast lysis.

Objective: We report the characterization of MCLA-117, a novel T cell-redirecting antibody for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) treatment targeting CD3 on T cells and CLEC12A on leukaemic cells. In AML, CLEC12A is expressed on blasts and leukaemic stem cells. Methods: The functional capacity of MCLA-117 to redirect resting T cells to eradicate CLEC12APOS tumor cells was studied using human samples, including primary AML samples. Results: Within the normal hematopoietic compartment, MCLA-117 binds to cells expressing CD3 and CLEC12A but not to early myeloid progenitors or hematopoietic stem cells. MCLA-117 induces T cell activation (EC50 = 44 ng/mL), T cell proliferation, mild pro-inflammatory cytokine release, and redirects T cells to lyse CLEC12APOS target cells (EC50 = 68 ng/mL). MCLA-117-induced targeting of normal CD34POS cells co-cultured with T cells spares erythrocyte and megakaryocyte differentiation as well as preserves mono-myelocytic lineage development. In primary AML patient samples with autologous T cells, MCLA-117 robustly induced AML blast killing (23-98%) at low effector-to-target ratios (1:3-1:97). Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that MCLA-117 efficiently redirects T cells to kill tumour cells while sparing the potential of the bone marrow to develop the full hematological compartment and support further clinical evaluation as a potentially potent treatment option for AML.

Unbiased Combinatorial Screening Identifies a Bispecific IgG1 that Potently Inhibits HER3 Signaling via HER2-Guided Ligand Blockade.

HER2-driven cancers require phosphatidylinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling through HER3 to promote tumor growth and survival. The therapeutic benefit of HER2-targeting agents, which depend on PI3K/Akt inhibition, can be overcome by hyperactivation of the heregulin (HRG)/HER3 pathway. Here we describe an unbiased phenotypic combinatorial screening approach to identify a bispecific immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) antibody against HER2 and HER3. In tumor models resistant to HER2-targeting agents, the bispecific IgG1 potently inhibits the HRG/HER3 pathway and downstream PI3K/Akt signaling via a "dock & block" mechanism. This bispecific IgG1 is a potentially effective therapy for breast cancer and other tumors with hyperactivated HRG/HER3 signaling.

A new approach for generating bispecific antibodies based on a common light chain format and the stable architecture of human immunoglobulin G1.

Bispecific antibodies combine two different antigen-binding sites in a single molecule, enabling more specific targeting, novel mechanisms of action, and higher clinical efficacies. Although they have the potential to outperform conventional monoclonal antibodies, many bispecific antibodies have issues regarding production, stability, and pharmacokinetic properties. Here, we describe a new approach for generating bispecific antibodies using a common light chain format and exploiting the stable architecture of human immunoglobulin G1 We used iterative experimental validation and computational modeling to identify multiple Fc variant pairs that drive efficient heterodimerization of the antibody heavy chains. Accelerated stability studies enabled selection of one Fc variant pair dubbed "DEKK" consisting of substitutions L351D and L368E in one heavy chain combined with L351K and T366K in the other. Solving the crystal structure of the DEKK Fc region at a resolution of 2.3 Å enabled detailed analysis of the interactions inducing CH3 interface heterodimerization. Local shifts in the IgG backbone accommodate the introduction of lysine side chains that form stabilizing salt-bridge interactions with substituted and native residues in the opposite chain. Overall, the CH3 domain adapted to these shifts at the interface, yielding a stable Fc conformation very similar to that in wild-type IgG. Using the DEKK format, we generated the bispecific antibody MCLA-128, targeting human EGF receptors 2 and 3. MCLA-128 could be readily produced and purified at industrial scale with a standard mammalian cell culture platform and a routine purification protocol. Long-term accelerated stability assays confirmed that MCLA-128 is highly stable and has excellent biophysical characteristics.

Complex mixtures of antibodies generated from a single production qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated by native Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Composite antibody mixtures designed to combat diseases present a new, rapidly emerging technology in the field of biopharmaceuticals. The combination of multiple antibodies can lead to increased effector response and limit the effect of escape variants that can propagate the disease. However, parallel development of analytical technologies is required to provide fast, thorough, accurate, and robust characterization of these mixtures. Here, we evaluate the utility of native mass spectrometry on an Orbitrap platform with high mass resolving power to characterize composite mixtures of up to 15 separate antibodies. With this technique, unambiguous identification of each antibody in the mixtures was achieved. Mass measurements of the intact antibodies varied 7 ppm on average, allowing highly reproducible identification and quantitation of each compound in these complex mixtures. We show that with the high mass-resolving power and robustness of this technology, high-resolution native mass spectrometry can be used efficiently even for batch-to batch characterization.

Qualitative and semiquantitative analysis of composite mixtures of antibodies by native mass spectrometry.

Native mass spectrometry was evaluated for the qualitative and semiquantitative analysis of composite mixtures of antibodies representing biopharmaceutical products coexpressed from single cells. We show that by using automated peak fitting of the ion signals in the native mass spectra, we can quantify the relative abundance of each of the antibodies present in mixtures, with an average accuracy of 3%, comparable to a cation exchange chromatography based approach performed in parallel. Moreover, using native mass spectrometry we were able to identify, separate, and quantify 9 antibodies present in a complex mixture of 10 antibodies, whereas this complexity could not be unraveled by cation exchange chromatography. Native mass spectrometry presents a valuable alternative to existing analytical methods for qualitative and semiquantitative profiling of biopharmaceutical products. It provides both the identity of each species in a mixture by mass determination and the relative abundance through comparison of relative ion signal intensities. Native mass spectrometry is a particularly effective tool for characterization of heterogeneous biopharmaceutical products such as bispecific antibodies and antibody mixtures.

Generation of stable cell clones expressing mixtures of human antibodies.

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, a highly successful class of biological drugs, are conventionally manufactured in mammalian cell lines. A recent approach to increase the therapeutic effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies has been to combine two or more of them; however this increases the complexity of development and manufacture. To address this issue a method to efficiently express multiple monoclonal antibodies from a single cell has been developed and we describe here the generation of stable cell clones that express high levels of a human monoclonal antibody mixture. PER.C6 cells were transfected with a combination of plasmids containing genes encoding three different antibodies. Clones that express the three corresponding antibody specificities were identified, subcloned, and passaged in the absence of antibiotic selection pressure. At several time points, batch production runs were analyzed for stable growth and IgG production characteristics. The majority (11/12) of subclones analyzed expressed all three antibody specificities in constant ratios with total IgG productivity ranging between 15 and 20 pg/cell/day under suboptimal culture conditions after up to 67 population doublings. The growth and IgG production characteristics of the stable clones reported here resemble those of single monoclonal antibody cell lines from conventional clone generation programs. We conclude that the methodology described here is applicable to the generation of stable PER.C6(R) clones for industrial scale production of mixtures of antibodies.

Construction of phage antibody repertoires from the blood of West Nile virus-infected donors.

A method for the construction of West Nile virus immune donor antibody repertoires is described. B cells are harvested from a suitable donor and the antibody variable genes are amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR fragments are cloned in a phage display vector to construct a repertoire that can be used in panning procedures to identify many unique monoclonal antibodies.

Human immunoglobulin repertoires against tetanus toxoid contain a large and diverse fraction of high-affinity promiscuous V(H) genes.

To study the contribution of antibody light (L) chains to the diversity and binding properties of immune repertoires, a phage display repertoire was constructed from a single human antibody L chain and a large collection of antibody heavy (H) chains harvested from the blood of two human donors immunized with tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccine. After selection for binding to TT, 129 unique antibodies representing 53 variable immunoglobulin H chain (V(H)) gene rearrangements were isolated. This panel of anti-TT antibodies restricted to a single variable immunoglobulin L chain (V(L)) could be organized into 17 groups binding non-competing epitopes on the TT molecule. Comparison of the V(H) regions in this V(L)-restricted panel with a previously published repertoire of anti-TT V(H) regions with cognate V(H)-V(L) pairing showed a very similar distribution of V(H), D(H) and J(H) gene segment utilization and length of the complementarity-determining region 3 of the H chain. Surface plasmon resonance analysis of the single-V(L) anti-TT repertoire unveiled a range of affinities, with a median monovalent affinity of 2 nM. When the single-V(L) anti-TT V(H) repertoire was combined with a collection of naïve V(L) regions and again selected for binding to TT, many of the V(H) genes were recovered in combination with a diversity of V(L) regions. The affinities of a panel of antibodies consisting of a single promiscuous anti-TT V(H) combined with 15 diverse V(L) chains were determined and found to be identical to each other and to the original isolate restricted to a single-V(L) chain. Based on previous estimates of the clonal size of the human anti-TT repertoire, we conclude that up to 25% of human anti-TT-encoding V(H) regions from an immunized repertoire have promiscuous features. These V(H) regions readily combine with a single antibody L chain to result in a large panel of anti-TT antibodies that conserve the expected epitope diversity, V(H) region diversity and affinity of a natural repertoire.

Identification of target membrane proteins as detected by phage antibodies.

The discovery of novel target antigens for antibody-based immunotherapy is still a major challenge. Antibody phage display is one of the technologies that is widely applied for the identification of novel cell surface molecules on intact eukaryotic cells and many reports describe the isolation of phage-antibodies binding to restricted cell populations such as cells in a certain pathological condition. However, the transition from cell-specific phage antibodies to the identification of the target antigens is still a major hurdle. Herein a method is described for the identification of these cell surface molecules using two complementary technologies. A genomic approach based on expression cloning can be used when cDNA libraries and antigen-negative cells are available. Otherwise, a proteomic approach based on small scale immunoprecipitation followed by large scale purification and mass-spectrometry-based identification can be applied. Correct identification of the antigens is confirmed using technologies such as recombinant expression of the target antigen followed by immunoprecipitation or cDNA transfection and FACS analysis.

Heterosubtypic neutralizing monoclonal antibodies cross-protective against H5N1 and H1N1 recovered from human IgM+ memory B cells.

BACKGROUND: The hemagglutinin (HA) glycoprotein is the principal target of protective humoral immune responses to influenza virus infections but such antibody responses only provide efficient protection against a narrow spectrum of HA antigenic variants within a given virus subtype. Avian influenza viruses such as H5N1 are currently panzootic and pose a pandemic threat. These viruses are antigenically diverse and protective strategies need to cross protect against diverse viral clades. Furthermore, there are 16 different HA subtypes and no certainty the next pandemic will be caused by an H5 subtype, thus it is important to develop prophylactic and therapeutic interventions that provide heterosubtypic protection. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Here we describe a panel of 13 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) recovered from combinatorial display libraries that were constructed from human IgM(+) memory B cells of recent (seasonal) influenza vaccinees. The mAbs have broad heterosubtypic neutralizing activity against antigenically diverse H1, H2, H5, H6, H8 and H9 influenza subtypes. Restriction to variable heavy chain gene IGHV1-69 in the high affinity mAb panel was associated with binding to a conserved hydrophobic pocket in the stem domain of HA. The most potent antibody (CR6261) was protective in mice when given before and after lethal H5N1 or H1N1 challenge. CONCLUSIONS: The human monoclonal CR6261 described in this study could be developed for use as a broad spectrum agent for prophylaxis or treatment of human or avian influenza infections without prior strain characterization. Moreover, the CR6261 epitope could be applied in targeted vaccine strategies or in the design of novel antivirals. Finally our approach of screening the IgM(+) memory repertoire could be applied to identify conserved and functionally relevant targets on other rapidly evolving pathogens.

Mapping and analysis of West Nile virus-specific monoclonal antibodies: prospects for vaccine development.

Seasonal epidemics of West Nile virus (WNV) infection now occur throughout North America, causing clinical symptoms ranging from fever to encephalitis. There are no specific treatment options or licensed vaccines. Several classically developed vaccine candidates are being evaluated in clinical trials. However, questions of safety and/or immunogenicity may limit their usefulness. Mapping of human and murine antibody repertoires against the WNV envelope protein after WNV infection have revealed important insights into the protective immune response against the virus. This review will give an overview of vaccines under development and summarize current data on E-protein antigenicity that could aid in the design of next generation WNV vaccines.

A human monoclonal antibody cocktail as a novel component of rabies postexposure prophylaxis.

The currently recommended treatment for individuals exposed to rabies virus is the combined administration of rabies vaccine and rabies immune globulin (RIG). This review sets out the criteria used to guide development of a cocktail of human monoclonal antibodies as a replacement for RIG. Using this process as a model, the general requirements for development of safe and efficacious monoclonal antibody alternatives to currently used polyclonal serum products are discussed.

Isolation and characterization of human monoclonal antibodies from individuals infected with West Nile Virus.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) neutralizing West Nile Virus (WNV) have been shown to protect against infection in animal models and have been identified as a correlate of protection in WNV vaccine studies. In the present study, antibody repertoires from three convalescent WNV-infected patients were cloned into an scFv phage library, and 138 human MAbs binding to WNV were identified. One hundred twenty-one MAbs specifically bound to the viral envelope (E) protein and four MAbs to the premembrane (prM) protein. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based competitive-binding assays with representative E protein-specific MAbs demonstrated that 24/51 (47%) bound to domain II while only 4/51 (8%) targeted domain III. In vitro neutralizing activity was demonstrated for 12 MAbs, and two of these, CR4374 and CR4353, protected mice from lethal WNV challenge at 50% protective doses of 12.9 and 357 mug/kg of body weight, respectively. Our data analyzing three infected individuals suggest that the human anti-WNV repertoire after natural infection is dominated by nonneutralizing or weakly neutralizing MAbs binding to domain II of the E protein, while domain III-binding MAbs able to potently neutralize WNV in vitro and in vivo are rare.

Human monoclonal antibody combination against SARS coronavirus: synergy and coverage of escape mutants.

BACKGROUND: Experimental animal data show that protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection with human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is feasible. For an effective immune prophylaxis in humans, broad coverage of different strains of SARS-CoV and control of potential neutralization escape variants will be required. Combinations of virus-neutralizing, noncompeting mAbs may have these properties. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Human mAb CR3014 has been shown to completely prevent lung pathology and abolish pharyngeal shedding of SARS-CoV in infected ferrets. We generated in vitro SARS-CoV variants escaping neutralization by CR3014, which all had a single P462L mutation in the glycoprotein spike (S) of the escape virus. In vitro experiments confirmed that binding of CR3014 to a recombinant S fragment (amino acid residues 318-510) harboring this mutation was abolished. We therefore screened an antibody-phage library derived from blood of a convalescent SARS patient for antibodies complementary to CR3014. A novel mAb, CR3022, was identified that neutralized CR3014 escape viruses, did not compete with CR3014 for binding to recombinant S1 fragments, and bound to S1 fragments derived from the civet cat SARS-CoV-like strain SZ3. No escape variants could be generated with CR3022. The mixture of both mAbs showed neutralization of SARS-CoV in a synergistic fashion by recognizing different epitopes on the receptor-binding domain. Dose reduction indices of 4.5 and 20.5 were observed for CR3014 and CR3022, respectively, at 100% neutralization. Because enhancement of SARS-CoV infection by subneutralizing antibody concentrations is of concern, we show here that anti-SARS-CoV antibodies do not convert the abortive infection of primary human macrophages by SARS-CoV into a productive one. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of two noncompeting human mAbs CR3014 and CR3022 potentially controls immune escape and extends the breadth of protection. At the same time, synergy between CR3014 and CR3022 may allow for a lower total antibody dose to be administered for passive immune prophylaxis of SARS-CoV infection.

Affinity ranking of antibodies using flow cytometry: application in antibody phage display-based target discovery.

Application of antibody phage display to the identification of cell surface antigens with restricted expression patterns is often complicated by the inability to demonstrate specific binding to a certain cell type. The specificity of an antibody can only be properly assessed when the antibody is of sufficient high affinity to detect low-density antigens on cell surfaces. Therefore, a robust and simple assay for the prediction of relative antibody affinities was developed and compared to data obtained using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology. A panel of eight anti-CD46 antibody fragments with different affinities was selected from phage display libraries and reformatted into complete human IgG1 molecules. SPR was used to determine K(D) values for these antibodies. The association and dissociation of the antibodies for binding to CD46 expressed on cell surfaces were analysed using FACS-based assays. We show that ranking of the antibodies based on FACS data correlates well with ranking based on K(D) values as measured by SPR and can therefore be used to discriminate between high- and low-affinity antibodies. Finally, we show that a low-affinity antibody may only detect high expression levels of a surface marker while failing to detect lower expression levels of this molecule, which may lead to a false interpretation of antibody specificity.

Novel human monoclonal antibody combination effectively neutralizing natural rabies virus variants and individual in vitro escape mutants.

The need to replace rabies immune globulin (RIG) as an essential component of rabies postexposure prophylaxis is widely acknowledged. We set out to discover a unique combination of human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) able to replace RIG. Stringent criteria concerning neutralizing potency, affinity, breadth of neutralization, and coverage of natural rabies virus (RV) isolates and in vitro escape mutants were set for each individual antibody, and the complementarities of the two MAbs were defined at the onset. First, we identified and characterized one human MAb (CR57) with high in vitro and in vivo neutralizing potency and a broad neutralization spectrum. The linear antibody binding site was mapped on the RV glycoprotein as antigenic site I by characterizing CR57 escape mutants. Secondly, we selected using phage display a complementing antibody (CR4098) that recognized a distinct, nonoverlapping epitope (antigenic site III), showed similar neutralizing potency and breadth as CR57, and neutralized CR57 escape mutants. Reciprocally, CR57 neutralized RV variants escaping CR4098. Analysis of glycoprotein sequences of natural RV isolates revealed that the majority of strains contain both intact epitopes, and the few remaining strains contain at least one of the two. In vitro exposure of RV to the combination of CR57 and CR4098 yielded no escape mutants. In conclusion, a novel combination of human MAbs was discovered suitable to replace RIG.

The human antibody repertoire specific for rabies virus glycoprotein as selected from immune libraries.

Antibody phage display technology was used to identify human monoclonal antibodies that neutralize rabies virus (RV). A phage repertoire was constructed using antibody genes harvested from the blood of vaccinated donors. Selections using this repertoire and three different antigen formats of the RV glycoprotein (gp) resulted in the identification of 147 unique antibody fragments specific for the RV gp. Analysis of the DNA sequences of these antibodies demonstrated a large variation in the heavy- and light-chain germ-line gene usage, suggesting that a broad antibody repertoire was selected. The single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies were tested in vitro for RV neutralization, resulting in 39 specificities that neutralize the virus. Of the scFv clones, 21 were converted into full-length human IgG(1) format. Analysis of viral escape variants and binding competition experiments indicated that the majority of the neutralizing antibodies are directed against antigenic site III of the RV gp. The obtained specificities expand the set of human anti-RV antibodies eligible for inclusion in an antibody cocktail aimed for use in rabies post-exposure prophylaxis.