Modulation of antigen-specific T cell response by a non-mitogenic anti-CD3 antibody.

Suppression of T cell response is the key to enhance graft survival and control autoimmune diseases. A mitogenic anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb), OKT3, has been used for decades to control acute rejection in organ transplantation. Although effective, the clinical use was limited by its side effects, such as cytokine release mediated by T cell activation. A low mitogenic humanized OKT3 with reduced FcR-binding (hgammaOKT3 Ala-Ala) was generated and tested in several clinical studies. Although hgammaOKT3 Ala-Ala demonstrated maintained efficacy and better safety it still activated T cells. To investigate if a non-mitogenic anti-CD3 mAb can be equally effective in immune suppression, a chimeric non-FcR-binding anti-mouse CD3 mAb (anti-CD3 IgG2a Ala-Ala) was generated. Unlike the hgammaOKT3 Ala-Ala, the mouse IgG2a Ala-Ala anti-CD3 mAb did not induce T cell activation as measured by proliferation, cytokine production and apoptosis. Nevertheless, the IgG2a Ala-Ala anti-CD3 mAb was equally effective in the inhibition of antigen-specific CD4+ T cell activation in vitro to that of the mitogenic anti-CD3 mAb (Anti-CD3 IgG2a). In vivo, the IgG2a Ala-Ala anti-CD3 mAb only induced transient reduction of peripheral and spleen T cells and did not trigger detectable cytokine release. Nonetheless, this non-mitogenic anti-CD3 mAb significantly prolonged islet graft survival as effectively as the mitogenic anti-CD3 mAb in an allogenic islet transplantation model. These results demonstrated that a non-mitogenic anti-CD3 mAb could be used as an effective immune modulator. It may also indicate that a true non-mitogenic version of OKT3 could further improve its safety profile for clinical use.

Correlation of heavy and light chain mRNA copy numbers to antibody productivity in mouse myeloma production cell lines.

Manufacturing cell line development at Centocor involves transfection of antibody genes into host cell lines and isolating primary transfectomas that upon subcloning yield high expressing cell lines for the desired antibody. In an attempt to increase productivity of these cell lines, we set out to identify the rate-limiting step in the process of antibody expression and secretion. For this purpose, 30 antibody expressing cell lines with variable antibody expression levels were analyzed for heavy-chain and light-chain mRNA expression levels. Results suggested that the increase in antibody titer of the subclones (compared to their primary clones) was partly due to an increase in heavy-chain and light-chain mRNA levels; higher expressers were associated with approximately 1.0 x 10(7) and 1.5 x 10(7) copies of heavy-chain and light-chain per 10 nanogram of cDNA, respectively. Generally, the level of light-chain mRNA was higher compared to the level of heavy-chain mRNA in a majority of the cell lines, and the difference in their levels was not due to their differential stability. The data generated from all the cell lines tested in this study suggested that there was a correlation of light-chain and heavy-chain transcript levels to antibody productivity, with the coefficient of correlation being 0.59 for light chain and 0.81 for heavy chain. We conclude that transcription of heavy chain and to a lesser extent light chain could be one of the rate-limiting steps in the antibody expression pathway. Hence, methods that would increase these mRNA levels could be beneficial in the attempt to improve the antibody expression level of production cell lines.

Anti-TNF-alpha antibodies suppress the development of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis.

To understand the role of TNF-alpha in the induction of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) and detect a possible effect of anti-TNF-alpha antibodies in the treatment of EAMG, anti-TNF-alpha antibodies were administrated intraperitoneally to Lewis rats twice per week for 5 weeks from the day of immunization with Torpedo AChR and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Administration of anti-TNF-alpha antibodies resulted in lower incidence of EAMG, and in delayed onset and only mild muscle weakness compared with control EAMG rats. These mild clinical signs were accompanied by lower AChR-specific lymphocyte proliferation, down-regulated IFN-gamma and IL-10, and up-regulated TGF-beta. The lower levels of anti-AChR IgG, Ig2a and IgG2b and decreased anti-AChR IgG affinity were found in rats treated with anti-TNF-alpha antibodies. These results demonstrate that anti-TNF-alpha antibodies can suppress the induction and development of EAMG.

Binding and functional comparisons of two types of tumor necrosis factor antagonists.

Two tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists infliximab (a chimeric monoclonal antibody) and etanercept (a p75 TNF receptor/Fc fusion protein) have been approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. However, these agents have shown different degrees of clinical benefit in controlled clinical trials in other TNF-mediated diseases such as Crohn's disease (CD) and psoriasis. We investigated whether structural differences between these two antagonists translate into different binding and functional characteristics. To study the binding of infliximab and etanercept to both the soluble and cell-surface transmembrane forms of TNF, a variety of in vitro binding and cell-based assays were performed. Binding assays using (125)I-labeled TNF showed that infliximab binds to both monomer and trimer forms of soluble TNF (sTNF), whereas etanercept binding is restricted to the trimer form. Infliximab formed stable complexes with sTNF, whereas etanercept formed relatively unstable complexes, resulting in release of dissociated TNF. KYM-1D4 cell killing assays and human umbilical vein endothelial cell activation assays demonstrated that TNF that had dissociated from etanercept was bioactive. Infliximab also formed more stable complexes with the transmembrane form of TNF expressed on transfected cells relative to analogous complexes formed with etanercept. Additionally, more infliximab molecules bound to the transmembrane TNF with higher avidity than etanercept. Although both infliximab and etanercept inhibited transmembrane TNF-mediated activation of human endothelial cells, infliximab was significantly more effective. The differences between infliximab and etanercept in their TNF binding characteristics may help explain their differential efficacy in CD and psoriasis clinical trials.