Enhanced anti-metastatic bioactivity of an IGF-TRAP re-engineered to improve physicochemical properties.
Sci Rep
; 8(1): 17361, 2018 11 26.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30478273
ABSTRACT
The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis has been implicated in the progression of malignant disease and identified as a clinically important therapeutic target. Several IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) targeting drugs including humanized monoclonal antibodies have advanced to phase II/III clinical trials, but to date, have not progressed to clinical use, due, at least in part, to interference with insulin receptor signalling. We previously reported on the production of a soluble fusion protein consisting of the extracellular domain of human IGF-1R fused to the Fc portion of human IgG1 (first generation IGF-TRAP) that bound human IGF-1 and IGF-2 with a 3 log higher affinity than insulin. We showed that the IGF-TRAP had potent anti-cancer activity in several pre-clinical models of aggressive carcinomas. Here we report on the re-engineering of the IGF-TRAP with the aim of improving physicochemical properties and suitability for clinical applications. We show that cysteine-serine substitutions in the Fc hinge region of IGF-TRAP eliminated high-molecular-weight oligomerized species, while a further addition of a flexible linker, not only improved the pharmacokinetic profile, but also enhanced the therapeutic profile of the IGF-TRAP, as evaluated in an experimental colon carcinoma metastasis model. Dose-response profiles of the modified IGF-TRAPs correlated with their bio-availability profiles, as measured by the IGF kinase-receptor-activation (KIRA) assay, providing a novel, surrogate biomarker for drug efficacy. This study provides a compelling example of structure-based re-engineering of Fc-fusion-based biologics for better manufacturability that also significantly improved pharmacological parameters. It identifies the re-engineered IGF-TRAP as a potent anti-cancer therapeutic.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Recombinant Fusion Proteins
/
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
/
Carcinoma
/
Colonic Neoplasms
/
Antineoplastic Agents
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canada