The trispecific DARPin ensovibep inhibits diverse SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants with potential resistance to existing drugs emphasizes the need for new therapeutic modalities with broad variant activity. Here we show that ensovibep, a trispecific DARPin (designed ankyrin repeat protein) clinical candidate, can engage the three units of the spike protein trimer of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit ACE2 binding with high potency, as revealed by cryo-electron microscopy analysis. The cooperative binding together with the complementarity of the three DARPin modules enable ensovibep to inhibit frequent SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron sublineages BA.1 and BA.2. In Roborovski dwarf hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2, ensovibep reduced fatality similarly to a standard-of-care monoclonal antibody (mAb) cocktail. When used as a single agent in viral passaging experiments in vitro, ensovibep reduced the emergence of escape mutations in a similar fashion to the same mAb cocktail. These results support further clinical evaluation of ensovibep as a broad variant alternative to existing targeted therapies for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Effects of glycerol supply and specific growth rate on methanol-free production of CALB by P. pastoris: functional characterisation of a novel promoter.

As Pichia pastoris (syn. Komagataella sp.) yeast can secrete pure recombinant proteins at high rates, it is a desirable production system. The function of a novel synthetic variant of the AOX1 promoter was characterised comprehensively using a strain secreting Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) as a model. A new time-saving approach was introduced to determine, in only one experiment, the hitherto unknown relationship between specific product formation rate (q p) and specific growth rate (µ). Tight control of recombinant protein formation was possible in the absence of methanol, while using glycerol as a sole carbon/energy source. CALB was not synthesised during batch cultivation in excess glycerol (>10 g l-1) and at a growth rate close to µ max (0.15 h-1). Between 0.017 and 0.115 h-1 in glycerol-limited fedbatch cultures, basal levels of q p > 0.4 mg g-1 h-1 CALB were reached, independent of the µ at which the culture grew. At µ > 0.04 h-1, an elevated q p occurred temporarily during the first 20 h after changing to fedbatch mode and decreased thereafter to basal. In order to accelerate the determination of the q p(µ) relationship (kinetics of product formation), the entire µ range was covered in a single fedbatch experiment. By linearly increasing and decreasing glycerol addition rates, µ values were repeatedly shifted from 0.004 to 0.074 h-1 and vice versa. Changes in q p were related to changes in µ. A rough estimation of µ range suitable for production was possible in a single fedbatch, thus significantly reducing the experimental input over previous approaches comprising several experiments.