Improvement of Biophysical Properties and Affinity of a Human Anti-L1CAM Therapeutic Antibody through Antibody Engineering Based on Computational Methods.

The biophysical properties of therapeutic antibodies influence their manufacturability, efficacy, and safety. To develop an anti-cancer antibody, we previously generated a human monoclonal antibody (Ab417) that specifically binds to L1 cell adhesion molecule with a high affinity, and we validated its anti-tumor activity and mechanism of action in human cholangiocarcinoma xenograft models. In the present study, we aimed to improve the biophysical properties of Ab417. We designed 20 variants of Ab417 with reduced aggregation propensity, less potential post-translational modification (PTM) motifs, and the lowest predicted immunogenicity using computational methods. Next, we constructed these variants to analyze their expression levels and antigen-binding activities. One variant (Ab612)-which contains six substitutions for reduced surface hydrophobicity, removal of PTM, and change to the germline residue-exhibited an increased expression level and antigen-binding activity compared to Ab417. In further studies, compared to Ab417, Ab612 showed improved biophysical properties, including reduced aggregation propensity, increased stability, higher purification yield, lower pI, higher affinity, and greater in vivo anti-tumor efficacy. Additionally, we generated a highly productive and stable research cell bank (RCB) and scaled up the production process to 50 L, yielding 6.6 g/L of Ab612. The RCB will be used for preclinical development of Ab612.

Inhibition of cell proliferation, adhesion, and invasion with an anti-L1-cell adhesion molecule monoclonal antibody in an in vitro endometriosis model.

The use of anti-L1-cell adhesion molecule monoclonal antibodies (anti-L1CAM-mAb) in an endometriosis epithelial cell line Z12 led to a statistically significant decrease in cell proliferation and cell invasion and to an inhibition of the adhesion compared with unspecific IgG-Ab treated and untreated cells. Because it increases the cell invasion and adhesion which consequently aggravates the disease, L1 could possibly promote endometriosis development; thus, further studies should evaluate the possible use of anti-L1-mAb in an animal endometriosis model.