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Anderson TS, McCormick AL, Smith SL, Lowe DB. Modeling antibody drug conjugate potential using a granzyme B antibody fusion protein. BMC Biol 2024; 22:66. [PMID: 38486229 PMCID: PMC10941411 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-024-01860-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) constitute a promising class of targeted anti-tumor therapeutics that harness the selectivity of monoclonal antibodies with the potency of cytotoxic drugs. ADC development is best suited to initially screening antibody candidates for desired properties that potentiate target cell cytotoxicity. However, validating and producing an optimally designed ADC requires expertise and resources not readily available to certain laboratories. RESULTS In this study, we propose a novel approach to help streamline the identification of potential ADC candidates by utilizing a granzyme B (GrB)-based antibody fusion protein (AFP) for preliminary screening. GrB is a non-immunogenic serine protease expressed by immune effector cells such as CD8 + T cells that induces apoptotic activity and can be leveraged for targeted cell killing. CONCLUSIONS Our innovative model allows critical antibody parameters (including target cell binding, internalization, and cytotoxic potential) to be more reliably evaluated in vitro through the creation of an ADC surrogate. Successful incorporation of this AFP could also significantly expand and enhance ADC development pre-clinically, ultimately leading to the accelerated translation of ADC therapies for patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trevor S Anderson
- Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 1718 Pine Street, Office 1306, Abilene, TX, 79601, USA
| | - Amanda L McCormick
- Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 1718 Pine Street, Office 1306, Abilene, TX, 79601, USA
| | - Savanna L Smith
- Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 1718 Pine Street, Office 1306, Abilene, TX, 79601, USA
| | - Devin B Lowe
- Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 1718 Pine Street, Office 1306, Abilene, TX, 79601, USA.
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Meyer M, Parpoulas C, Barthélémy T, Becker JP, Charoentong P, Lyu Y, Börsig S, Bulbuc N, Tessmer C, Weinacht L, Ibberson D, Schmidt P, Pipkorn R, Eichmüller SB, Steinberger P, Lindner K, Poschke I, Platten M, Fröhling S, Riemer AB, Hassel JC, Roberti MP, Jäger D, Zörnig I, Momburg F. MediMer: a versatile do-it-yourself peptide-receptive MHC class I multimer platform for tumor neoantigen-specific T cell detection. Front Immunol 2024; 14:1294565. [PMID: 38239352 PMCID: PMC10794645 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1294565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Peptide-loaded MHC class I (pMHC-I) multimers have revolutionized our capabilities to monitor disease-associated T cell responses with high sensitivity and specificity. To improve the discovery of T cell receptors (TCR) targeting neoantigens of individual tumor patients with recombinant MHC molecules, we developed a peptide-loadable MHC class I platform termed MediMer. MediMers are based on soluble disulfide-stabilized β2-microglobulin/heavy chain ectodomain single-chain dimers (dsSCD) that can be easily produced in large quantities in eukaryotic cells and tailored to individual patients' HLA allotypes with only little hands-on time. Upon transient expression in CHO-S cells together with ER-targeted BirA biotin ligase, biotinylated dsSCD are purified from the cell supernatant and are ready to use. We show that CHO-produced dsSCD are free of endogenous peptide ligands. Empty dsSCD from more than 30 different HLA-A,B,C allotypes, that were produced and validated so far, can be loaded with synthetic peptides matching the known binding criteria of the respective allotypes, and stored at low temperature without loss of binding activity. We demonstrate the usability of peptide-loaded dsSCD multimers for the detection of human antigen-specific T cells with comparable sensitivities as multimers generated with peptide-tethered β2m-HLA heavy chain single-chain trimers (SCT) and wild-type peptide-MHC-I complexes prior formed in small-scale refolding reactions. Using allotype-specific, fluorophore-labeled competitor peptides, we present a novel dsSCD-based peptide binding assay capable of interrogating large libraries of in silico predicted neoepitope peptides by flow cytometry in a high-throughput and rapid format. We discovered rare T cell populations with specificity for tumor neoepitopes and epitopes from shared tumor-associated antigens in peripheral blood of a melanoma patient including a so far unreported HLA-C*08:02-restricted NY-ESO-1-specific CD8+ T cell population. Two representative TCR of this T cell population, which could be of potential value for a broader spectrum of patients, were identified by dsSCD-guided single-cell sequencing and were validated by cognate pMHC-I multimer staining and functional responses to autologous peptide-pulsed antigen presenting cells. By deploying the technically accessible dsSCD MHC-I MediMer platform, we hope to significantly improve success rates for the discovery of personalized neoepitope-specific TCR in the future by being able to also cover rare HLA allotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marten Meyer
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Parpoulas
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Titouan Barthélémy
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jonas P. Becker
- Division of Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Partner Site Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Pornpimol Charoentong
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
- Center for Quantitative Analysis of Molecular and Cellular Biosystems (Bioquant), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Yanhong Lyu
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Selina Börsig
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nadja Bulbuc
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Claudia Tessmer
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Lisa Weinacht
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - David Ibberson
- Deep Sequencing Core Facility, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Patrick Schmidt
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
- GMP and T Cell Therapy, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | | | - Peter Steinberger
- Division of Immune Receptors and T Cell Activation, Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Katharina Lindner
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Immune Monitoring Unit, NCT Heidelberg and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Isabel Poschke
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Immune Monitoring Unit, NCT Heidelberg and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Michael Platten
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Immune Monitoring Unit, NCT Heidelberg and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), DKFZ, Core Center, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Mannheim Center for Translational Neuroscience (MCTN), Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
- DKFZ Hector Cancer Institute at the University Medical Center, Mannheim, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology, Mainz (HI-TRON Mainz), Mainz, Germany
| | - Stefan Fröhling
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), DKFZ, Core Center, Heidelberg, Germany
- Division of Translational Medical Oncology, NCT Heidelberg and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Institute of Human Genetics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Angelika B. Riemer
- Division of Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Partner Site Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jessica C. Hassel
- Section of DermatoOncology, Department of Dermatology and NCT, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maria Paula Roberti
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Dirk Jäger
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Inka Zörnig
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Frank Momburg
- Antigen Presentation and T/NK Cell Activation Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
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Rollins Z, Harris B, George S, Faller R. A molecular dynamics investigation of N-glycosylation effects on T-cell receptor kinetics. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2022:1-10. [PMID: 35763488 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2091660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
The binding interaction between the T-cell receptor (TCR) and peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) is modulated by several factors (known and unknown), however, investigations into effects of glycosylation are limited. A fully glycosylated computational model of the TCR bound to the pMHC is developed to investigate the effects of glycosylation on dissociation kinetics from the pMHC. Here, we examine the effects of N-glycosylation on TCR-pMHC bond strength using steered molecular dynamic simulations. N-glycosylation is a post-translational modification that adds sugar moieties to molecules and can modulate the activity of several immune molecules. Using a TCR-pMHC pair found in melanoma as a case study, our study demonstrates that N-glycosylation of the TCR-pMHC alters the proteins' conformation; increases the bond lifetime; and increases the number of hydrogen bonds and Lennard-Jones Contacts involved in the TCR-pMHC bond. We find that weak glycan-protein or glycan-glycan interactions impact the equilibrated structure of the TCR and pMHC leading to an increase in the overall bond strength of the TCR-pMHC complex including the duration and energetic strength under constant load. These results indicate that N-glycosylation plays an important role in the TCR-pMHC bond and should be considered in future computational and experimental studies.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Rollins
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Bradley Harris
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Steven George
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Roland Faller
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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O’Rourke SM, Morozov GI, Roberts JT, Barb AW, Sgourakis NG. Production of soluble pMHC-I molecules in mammalian cells using the molecular chaperone TAPBPR. Protein Eng Des Sel 2019; 32:525-532. [PMID: 32725167 PMCID: PMC7451022 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzaa015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Current approaches for generating major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class-I proteins with desired bound peptides (pMHC-I) for research, diagnostic and therapeutic applications are limited by the inherent instability of empty MHC-I molecules. Using the properties of the chaperone TAP-binding protein related (TAPBPR), we have developed a robust method to produce soluble, peptide-receptive MHC-I molecules in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells at high yield, completely bypassing the requirement for laborious refolding from inclusion bodies expressed in E.coli. Purified MHC-I/TAPBPR complexes can be prepared for multiple human allotypes, and exhibit complex glycan modifications at the conserved Asn 86 residue. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate both HLA allele-specific peptide binding and MHC-restricted antigen recognition by T cells for two relevant tumor-associated antigens. Our system provides a facile, high-throughput approach for generating pMHC-I antigens to probe and expand TCR specificities present in polyclonal T cell repertoires.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara M O’Rourke
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Giora I Morozov
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Jacob T Roberts
- Roy J Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Adam W Barb
- Roy J Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Nikolaos G Sgourakis
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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Jurewicz MM, Willis RA, Ramachandiran V, Altman JD, Stern LJ. MHC-I peptide binding activity assessed by exchange after cleavage of peptide covalently linked to β2-microglobulin. Anal Biochem 2019; 584:113328. [PMID: 31201791 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2019.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2019] [Revised: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
A common approach to measuring binding constants involves combining receptor and ligand and measuring the distribution of bound and free states after equilibration. For class I major histocompatibility (MHC-I) proteins, which bind short peptides for presentation to T cells, this approach is precluded by instability of peptide-free protein. Here we develop a method wherein a weakly-binding peptide covalently attached to the N-terminus of the MHC-I β2m subunit is released from the peptide binding site after proteolytic cleavage of the linker. The resultant protein is able to bind added peptide. A direct binding assay and method for estimation of peptide binding constant (Kd) are described, in which fluorescence polarization is used to follow peptide binding. A competition binding assay and method for estimation of inhibitor binding constant (Ki) using the same principle also are also described. The method uses a cubic equation to relate observed binding to probe concentration, probe Kd, inhibitor concentration, and inhibitor Ki under general reaction conditions without assumptions relating to relative binding affinities or concentrations. We also delineate advantages of this approach compared to the Cheng-Prusoff and Munson-Rodbard approaches for estimation of Ki using competition binding data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mollie M Jurewicz
- Program in Immunology and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 01605, United States; Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 01605, United States
| | - Richard A Willis
- Emory Vaccine Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - Vasanthi Ramachandiran
- Emory Vaccine Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - John D Altman
- Emory Vaccine Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - Lawrence J Stern
- Program in Immunology and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 01605, United States; Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 01605, United States; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 01605, United States.
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