In vitro functional characterization of biosimilar therapeutic antibodies.

The key factor in successful development and marketing of biosimilar antibodies is a deep understanding of their critical quality attributes and the ability to control them. Comprehensive functional characterization is therefore at the heart of the process and is a crucial part of regulatory requirements. Establishment of a scientifically sound molecule-specific functional in vitro assay panel requires diligent planning and high flexibility in order to respond to both regulatory requirements and the ever-changing demands relevant to the different stages of the development and production process. Relevance of the chosen assays to the in vivo mechanism of action is of key importance to the stepwise evidence-based demonstration of biosimilarity. Use of a sound interdisciplinary approach and orthogonal state-of-the-art techniques is also unavoidable for gaining in-depth understanding of the biosimilar candidate. The aim of the present review is to give a snapshot on the methodic landscape as depicted by the available literature discussing the in vitro techniques used for the functional characterization of approved biosimilar therapeutic antibodies. Emerging hot topics of the field and relevant structure-function relationships are also highlighted.

The effects of two polymorphisms on p21cip1 function and their association with Alzheimer's disease in a population of European descent.

With the exception of ApoE4, genome-wide association studies have failed to identify strong genetic risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, despite strong evidence of heritability, suggesting that many low penetrance genes may be involved. Additionally, the nature of the identified genetic risk factors and their relation to disease pathology is also largely obscure. Previous studies have found that a cancer-associated variant of the cell cycle inhibitor gene p21cip1 is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this study was to confirm this association and to elucidate the effects of the variant on protein function and Alzheimer-type pathology. We examined the association of the p21cip1 variant with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease with dementia. The genotyping studies were performed on 719 participants of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, 225 participants of a Parkinson's disease DNA bank, and 477 participants of the Human Random Control collection available from the European Collection of Cell Cultures. The post mortem studies were carried out on 190 participants. In the in-vitro study, human embryonic kidney cells were transfected with either the common or rare p21cip1 variant; and cytometry was used to assess cell cycle kinetics, p21cip1 protein expression and sub-cellular localisation. The variant was associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease with dementia, relative to age matched controls. Furthermore, the variant was associated with an earlier age of onset of Alzheimer's disease, and a more severe phenotype, with a primary influence on the accumulation of tangle pathology. In the in-vitro study, we found that the SNPs reduced the cell cycle inhibitory and anti-apoptotic activity of p21cip1. The results suggest that the cancer-associated variant of p21cip1 may contribute to the loss of cell cycle control in neurons that may lead to Alzheimer-type neurodegeneration.

Therapeutic targeting the loss of the birt-hogg-dube suppressor gene.

Brit-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome, an autosomal dominant familial cancer, is associated with increased risk of kidney cancer. BHD syndrome is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the folliculin (FLCN) protein. To develop therapeutic approaches for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in BHD syndrome, we adopted a strategy to identify tumor-selective growth inhibition in a RCC cell line with FLCN inactivation. The COMPARE algorithm was used to identify candidate anticancer drugs tested against the NCI-60 cell lines that showed preferential toxicity to low FLCN expressing cell lines. Fifteen compounds were selected and detailed growth inhibition (SRB) assays were done in paired BHD RCC cell lines (UOK257 derived from a patient with BHD). Selective sensitivity of FLCN-null over FLCN-wt UOK257 cells was observed in seven compounds. The most selective growth-inhibitory sensitivity was induced by mithramycin, which showed an approximately 10-fold difference in GI(50) values between FLCN-null (64.2 ± 7.9 nmol/L, n = 3) and FLCN-wt UOK257 cells (634.3 ± 147.9 nmol/L, n = 4). Differential ability to induce caspase 3/7 activity by mithramycin was also detected in a dose-dependent manner. Clonogenic survival studies showed mithramycin to be approximately 10-fold more cytotoxic to FLCN-null than FLCN-wt UOK257 cells (200 nmol/L). Following mithramycin exposure, UOK257-FLCN-null cells were mainly arrested and blocked in S and G(2)-M phases of the cell cycle and low dose of rapamycin (1 nmol/L) potentiated mithramycin sensitivity (1.5-fold in G(2)-M population and 2-fold in G(2)-M period time, 2xGI(50), 48 hours). These results provide a basis for further evaluation of mithramycin as a potential therapeutic drug for RCC associated with BHD.

Interlaboratory comparison trial on cylindrospermopsin measurement.

The hepatotoxin cylindrospermopsin (CYN) is a potent inhibitor of protein synthesis in mammalian cells. It is produced by freshwater cyanobacterial blooms in countries such as Australia, the United States, Israel, Thailand, and Brazil. An interlaboratory comparison was organized as a first step to evaluate the measurement of CYN in lyophilized cyanobacterial cells. Six laboratories from Europe, Israel, and Australia participated in the trial. All of the methods used for extraction of the toxin and the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis were satisfactory on the basis of statistical evaluation, according to ISO standards 5725-1 and -2. Further comparison of all the extraction methods by the organizer indicated that the most effective extraction procedure used 5% formic acid to prevent interference in chromatograms by contaminant compounds when analyzed using HPLC employing isocratic conditions of 5% (v/v) aqueous methanol plus 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid as the mobile phase.