Targeting CD33+ acute myeloid leukemia with GLK-33, a lintuzumab-auristatin conjugate with a wide therapeutic window.

CD33 (Siglec-3) is a cell surface receptor expressed in approximately 90% of AML blasts, making it an attractive target for therapy of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While previous CD33-targeting antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) like gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO, Mylotarg) have shown efficacy in AML treatment, they have suffered from toxicity and narrow therapeutic window. This study aimed to develop a novel ADC with improved tolerability and a wider therapeutic window. GLK-33 consists of the anti-CD33 antibody lintuzumab and eight mavg-MMAU auristatin linker-payloads per antibody. The experimental methods included testing in cell cultures, patient-derived samples, mouse xenograft models, and rat toxicology studies. GLK-33 exhibited remarkable efficacy in reducing cell viability within CD33-positive leukemia cell lines and primary AML samples. Notably, GLK-33 demonstrated anti-tumor activity at single dose as low as 300 µg/kg in mice, while maintaining tolerability at single dose of 20 - 30 mg/kg in rats. In contrast to both GO and lintuzumab vedotin, GLK-33 exhibited a wide therapeutic window and activity against multidrug-resistant cells. The development of GLK-33 addresses the limitations of previous ADCs, offering a wider therapeutic window, improved tolerability, and activity against drug-resistant leukemia cells. These findings encourage further exploration of GLK-33 in AML through clinical trials.

Trastuzumab-MMAU Antibody-Auristatin Conjugates: Valine-Glucoserine Linker with Stabilized Maleimide Conjugation Improves In Vivo Efficacy and Tolerability.

PURPOSE: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have shown impressive clinical activity with approval of many agents in hematological and solid tumors. However, challenges remain with both efficacy and safety of ADCs. This study describes novel trastuzumab-auristatin conjugates with the hydrophilic MMAE prodrug MMAU, and optimization of a glycopeptide linker leading to a wider therapeutic window. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Trastuzumab was conjugated with auristatin payloads via a series of linkers using a stabilized maleimide handle. The ADCs were characterized in vitro and their relative in vivo anti-tumor efficacies were assessed in HER2+ xenograft models. Relative linker stabilities and the mechanism of linker cleavage were studied using in vitro assays. Toxicity and toxicokinetics of the best performing ADC were evaluated in cynomolgus monkey (cyno). RESULTS: The trastuzumab-MMAU ADC with stabilized glycopeptide linker showed maleimide stabilization and higher resistance to cleavage by serum and lysosomal enzymes compared to a valine-citrulline conjugated trastuzumab ADC (trastuzumab-vc-MMAE). A single dose of 1 or 2 mg/kg of trastuzumab-MMAU at drug-to-antibody ratios (DAR) of 8 and 4 respectively resulted in xenograft tumor growth inhibition, with superior efficacy to trastuzumab-vc-MMAE. Trastuzumab-MMAU DAR4 was tolerated at doses up to 12 mg/kg in cyno, which represents 2- to 4-fold higher dose than that observed with vedotin ADCs, and had increased terminal half-life and exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The optimized trastuzumab-MMAU ADC showed potent antitumor activity and was well tolerated with excellent pharmacokinetics in non-human primates, leading to a superior preclinical therapeutic window. The data supports potential utility of trastuzumab-MMAU for treatment of HER2+ tumors.

Enabling Low Cost Biopharmaceuticals: A Systematic Approach to Delete Proteases from a Well-Known Protein Production Host Trichoderma reesei.

The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei has tremendous capability to secrete proteins. Therefore, it would be an excellent host for producing high levels of therapeutic proteins at low cost. Developing a filamentous fungus to produce sensitive therapeutic proteins requires that protease secretion is drastically reduced. We have identified 13 major secreted proteases that are related to degradation of therapeutic antibodies, interferon alpha 2b, and insulin like growth factor. The major proteases observed were aspartic, glutamic, subtilisin-like, and trypsin-like proteases. The seven most problematic proteases were sequentially removed from a strain to develop it for producing therapeutic proteins. After this the protease activity in the supernatant was dramatically reduced down to 4% of the original level based upon a casein substrate. When antibody was incubated in the six protease deletion strain supernatant, the heavy chain remained fully intact and no degradation products were observed. Interferon alpha 2b and insulin like growth factor were less stable in the same supernatant, but full length proteins remained when incubated overnight, in contrast to the original strain. As additional benefits, the multiple protease deletions have led to faster strain growth and higher levels of total protein in the culture supernatant.

Production of heterologous proteins in yeast with the aid of the Hsp150delta carrier.

Proper folding, and consequently exit from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and secretion of heterologous exocytic proteins in yeast can be rescued by fusing the proteins to certain yeast-derived polypeptides. Biologically active mammalian glycoproteins can be produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris by joining them to a fragment of a natural secretory glycoprotein of S. cerevisiae, Hsp150delta. The performance of the Hsp150delta carrier in both yeasts appears to exceed that of the MFalpha leader, which is widely used in industrial protein production. Here we describe the use of the Hsp150delta carrier in P. pastoris in both shake flask and fermentor cultivations. As a reporter protein we use the periplasmic disulfide-bonded Escherichia coli enzyme beta-lactamase.

Upregulation of the Hsp104 chaperone at physiological temperature during recovery from thermal insult.

Thermal insult at 50 degrees C causes protein denaturation in yeast, but the cells survive if preconditioned at 37 degrees C. Survival depends on refolding of heat-denatured proteins. Refolding of cytoplasmic proteins requires Hsp104, the expression of which increases several-fold upon shift of the cells from physiological temperature 24 degrees C to 37 degrees C. We describe here a novel type of regulation of Hsp104, designated delayed upregulation (DUR). When Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells grown at 24 degrees C, preconditioned at 37 degrees C and treated briefly at 50 degrees C were shifted back to 24 degrees C, Hsp104 expression was negligible for 1 h, but increased then to a three to nine times higher level than that detected after growth at 24 degrees C, returning to normal after 5 h. A heat shock element (HSE) of the upstream sequence of HSP104 was necessary and sufficient for DUR, whereas stress response elements (STRE) were dispensable. Destruction of HSE plus all three STREs abolished Hsp104 expression, resulting in cell death after thermal insult. Deletion of MSN2/4, encoding transcription factors driving STRE-dependent gene expression, decreased DUR. Deletion of HOG1, encoding a heat-responsive and osmosensitive mitogen-activated protein kinase implicated to be functionally connected to Msn2/4p, abolished DUR. We suggest that DUR was regulated via HSE, required Hog1p and involved Msn2/4p-regulated gene products.

Validation of the Hsp150 polypeptide carrier and HSP150 promoter in expression of rat alpha2,3-sialyltransferase in yeasts.

Heterologous glycoproteins usually do not fold properly in yeast cells and fail to leave the endoplasmic reticulum. Here we show that the Hsp150Delta polypeptide carrier promoted proper folding and secretion of the catalytic ectodomain of rat alpha2,3-sialyltransferase (ST3Ne) in Pichia pastoris. The efficiency of the Hsp150Delta carrier in P. pastoris and Saccharomyces cerevisiae was at least as high as that of the MFalpha carrier. Most of Hsp150Delta-ST3Ne and MFalpha-ST3Ne remained noncovalently attached to the cell wall via the ST3Ne portion. The strength of the HSP150 promoter was found to be comparable to that of the GAL1 promoter.