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Pirkalkhoran S, Grabowska WR, Kashkoli HH, Mirhassani R, Guiliano D, Dolphin C, Khalili H. Bioengineering of Antibody Fragments: Challenges and Opportunities. Bioengineering (Basel) 2023; 10:bioengineering10020122. [PMID: 36829616 PMCID: PMC9952581 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10020122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Antibody fragments are used in the clinic as important therapeutic proteins for treatment of indications where better tissue penetration and less immunogenic molecules are needed. Several expression platforms have been employed for the production of these recombinant proteins, from which E. coli and CHO cell-based systems have emerged as the most promising hosts for higher expression. Because antibody fragments such as Fabs and scFvs are smaller than traditional antibody structures and do not require specific patterns of glycosylation decoration for therapeutic efficacy, it is possible to express them in systems with reduced post-translational modification capacity and high expression yield, for example, in plant and insect cell-based systems. In this review, we describe different bioengineering technologies along with their opportunities and difficulties to manufacture antibody fragments with consideration of stability, efficacy and safety for humans. There is still potential for a new production technology with a view of being simple, fast and cost-effective while maintaining the stability and efficacy of biotherapeutic fragments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sama Pirkalkhoran
- School of Biomedical Science, University of West London, London W5 5RF, UK
| | | | | | | | - David Guiliano
- School of Life Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK
| | - Colin Dolphin
- School of Biomedical Science, University of West London, London W5 5RF, UK
| | - Hanieh Khalili
- School of Biomedical Science, University of West London, London W5 5RF, UK
- School of Pharmacy, University College London, London WC1N 1AX, UK
- Correspondence:
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Shenoy A, Barb AW. Recent Advances Toward Engineering Glycoproteins Using Modified Yeast Display Platforms. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2370:185-205. [PMID: 34611870 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1685-7_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Yeast are capable recombinant protein expression hosts that provide eukaryotic posttranslational modifications such as disulfide bond formation and N-glycosylation. This property has been used to create surface display libraries for protein engineering; however, yeast surface display (YSD) with common laboratory strains has limitations in terms of diversifying glycoproteins due to the incorporation of high levels of mannose residues which often obscure important epitopes and are immunogenic in humans. Developing new strains for efficient and appropriate display will require combining existing technologies to permit efficient glycoprotein engineering. Foundational efforts generating knockout strains lacking characteristic hypermannosylation reactions exhibited morphological defects and poor growth. Later strains with "humanized" N-glycosylation machinery surmounted these limitations by targeting a small suite of glycosylhydrolase and glycosyltransferase enzymes from other taxa to the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi. Advanced yeast strains also provide key modifications at the glycan termini that are essential for the full function of many glycoproteins. Here we review progress toward glycoprotein engineering when glycosylation is required for full function using advanced yeast expression platforms and the suitability of each for YSD of glycoproteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anjali Shenoy
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Adam W Barb
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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3
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Abstract
The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris has become an increasingly popular host for recombinant protein expression in recent times. MRL pioneered a glycoengineered humanized P. pastoris expression system that could produce glycoproteins with glycosylation profiles similar to mammalian systems. Therapeutic glycoproteins produced by the humanized P. pastoris platform have shown comparable folding, stability, and in vitro and in vivo efficacies in preclinical models to their counterparts produced from the CHO cells. P. pastoris offers a cost and time efficient alternative platform for therapeutic protein production. This chapter describes a protocol for using P. pastoris to produce full-length monoclonal antibodies. It covers a broad spectrum of antibody expression technologies in P. pastoris, including expression vector construction, yeast transformation, high-throughput strain selection, fermentation, and antibody purification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Nylen
- Biologics Discovery, MRL, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Ming-Tang Chen
- Biologics Discovery, MRL, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Abstract
Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Pichia pastoris are the standard platforms for biopharmaceutical production with 40% of all between 2010 to 2014 approved protein drugs produced in those microbial hosts. Typically, products overexpressed E. coli and S. cerevisiae remain in the cytosol or are secreted into the periplasm. Consequently, efficient cell disruption is essential for high product recovery during microbial production. Process development platforms at microscale are essential to shorten time to market. While high-pressure homogenization is the industry standard for cell disruption at large scale this method is not practicable for experiments in microscale. This review describes microscale methods for cell disruption at scales as low as 200 µL. Strategies for automation, parallelization and miniaturization, as well as comparability of the results at this scale to high pressure homogenization are considered as those criteria decide which methods are most suited for scale down. Those aspects are discussed in detail for protein overexpression in E. coli and yeast but also the relevance for alternative products and host such as microalgae are taken into account. The authors conclude that bead milling is the best comparable microscale method to large scale high-pressure homogenization and therefore the most suitable technique for automated process development of microbial hosts with the exception of pDNA production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelia Walther
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Boehringer-Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Astrid Dürauer
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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5
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Current advances in the development of high-throughput purification strategies for the generation of therapeutic antibodies. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.4155/pbp.15.23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Shah KA, Clark JJ, Goods BA, Politano TJ, Mozdzierz NJ, Zimnisky RM, Leeson RL, Love JC, Love KR. Automated pipeline for rapid production and screening of HIV-specific monoclonal antibodies using pichia pastoris. Biotechnol Bioeng 2015; 112:2624-9. [PMID: 26032261 DOI: 10.1002/bit.25663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2015] [Revised: 05/08/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that bind and neutralize human pathogens have great therapeutic potential. Advances in automated screening and liquid handling have resulted in the ability to discover antigen-specific antibodies either directly from human blood or from various combinatorial libraries (phage, bacteria, or yeast). There remain, however, bottlenecks in the cloning, expression and evaluation of such lead antibodies identified in primary screens that hinder high-throughput screening. As such, "hit-to-lead identification" remains both expensive and time-consuming. By combining the advantages of overlap extension PCR (OE-PCR) and a genetically stable yet easily manipulatable microbial expression host Pichia pastoris, we have developed an automated pipeline for the rapid production and screening of full-length antigen-specific mAbs. Here, we demonstrate the speed, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of our approach by generating several broadly neutralizing antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
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Affiliation(s)
- Kartik A Shah
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - John J Clark
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - Brittany A Goods
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - Timothy J Politano
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - Nicholas J Mozdzierz
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - Ross M Zimnisky
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - Rachel L Leeson
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts
| | - J Christopher Love
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts. .,MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts.
| | - Kerry R Love
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts. .,MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts.
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Harvey DJ. Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: an update for 2009-2010. MASS SPECTROMETRY REVIEWS 2015; 34:268-422. [PMID: 24863367 PMCID: PMC7168572 DOI: 10.1002/mas.21411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2013] [Revised: 07/16/2013] [Accepted: 07/16/2013] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
This review is the sixth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of MALDI mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2010. General aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, arrays and fragmentation are covered in the first part of the review and applications to various structural typed constitutes the remainder. The main groups of compound that are discussed in this section are oligo and polysaccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides and biopharmaceuticals. Many of these applications are presented in tabular form. Also discussed are medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions and applications to chemical synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J. Harvey
- Department of BiochemistryOxford Glycobiology InstituteUniversity of OxfordOxfordOX1 3QUUK
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Barnard GC, Hougland MD, Rajendra Y. High-throughput mAb expression and purification platform based on transient CHO. Biotechnol Prog 2014; 31:239-47. [DOI: 10.1002/btpr.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2014] [Revised: 10/10/2014] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gavin C. Barnard
- Biotechnology Discovery Research; Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center; Indianapolis IN 46285
| | - Maria D. Hougland
- Biotechnology Discovery Research; Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center; Indianapolis IN 46285
| | - Yashas Rajendra
- Biotechnology Discovery Research; Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center; Indianapolis IN 46285
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Schadock-Hewitt AJ, Marcus RK. Initial evaluation of protein A modified capillary-channeled polymer fibers for the capture and recovery of immunoglobulin G. J Sep Sci 2014; 37:495-504. [DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201301205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2013] [Revised: 12/10/2013] [Accepted: 12/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - R. Kenneth Marcus
- Department of Chemistry; Biosystems Research Complex; Clemson University; Clemson SC USA
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Vasilev N, Grömping U, Lipperts A, Raven N, Fischer R, Schillberg S. Optimization of BY-2 cell suspension culture medium for the production of a human antibody using a combination of fractional factorial designs and the response surface method. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2013; 11:867-74. [PMID: 23721307 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2013] [Revised: 03/21/2013] [Accepted: 04/07/2013] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
We have developed a strategy for the optimization of plant cell suspension culture media using a combination of fractional factorial designs (FFDs) and response surface methodology (RSM). This sequential approach was applied to transformed tobacco BY-2 cells secreting a human antibody (M12) into the culture medium, in an effort to maximize yields. We found that the nutrients KNO₃, NH₄NO₃ and CaCl₂ and the hormones 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) had the most significant impact on antibody accumulation. The factorial screening revealed strong interactions within the nutrients group (KNO₃, NH₄NO₃ and CaCl₂) and also individually between 2,4-D and three other components (KNO₃, NH₄NO₃ and BAP). The RSM design resulted in a fivefold increase in the antibody concentration after 5 days and a twofold reduction in the packed cell volume (PCV). Longer cultivation in the optimized medium led to the further accumulation of antibody M12 in the culture medium (up to 107 μg/mL, day 10). Because the packed cell volume was reduced in the optimized medium, this enhanced the overall yield by 20-fold (day 7) and 31-fold (day 10) compared to the conventional MS medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolay Vasilev
- Department Plant Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
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11
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Frenzel A, Hust M, Schirrmann T. Expression of recombinant antibodies. Front Immunol 2013; 4:217. [PMID: 23908655 PMCID: PMC3725456 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2013.00217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 219] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2013] [Accepted: 07/15/2013] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Recombinant antibodies are highly specific detection probes in research, diagnostics, and have emerged over the last two decades as the fastest growing class of therapeutic proteins. Antibody generation has been dramatically accelerated by in vitro selection systems, particularly phage display. An increasing variety of recombinant production systems have been developed, ranging from Gram-negative and positive bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi, insect cell lines, mammalian cells to transgenic plants and animals. Currently, almost all therapeutic antibodies are still produced in mammalian cell lines in order to reduce the risk of immunogenicity due to altered, non-human glycosylation patterns. However, recent developments of glycosylation-engineered yeast, insect cell lines, and transgenic plants are promising to obtain antibodies with "human-like" post-translational modifications. Furthermore, smaller antibody fragments including bispecific antibodies without any glycosylation are successfully produced in bacteria and have advanced to clinical testing. The first therapeutic antibody products from a non-mammalian source can be expected in coming next years. In this review, we focus on current antibody production systems including their usability for different applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- André Frenzel
- Abteilung Biotechnologie, Institut für Biochemie, Biotechnologie und Bioinformatik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Michael Hust
- Abteilung Biotechnologie, Institut für Biochemie, Biotechnologie und Bioinformatik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Thomas Schirrmann
- Abteilung Biotechnologie, Institut für Biochemie, Biotechnologie und Bioinformatik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
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12
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Jäger V, Büssow K, Wagner A, Weber S, Hust M, Frenzel A, Schirrmann T. High level transient production of recombinant antibodies and antibody fusion proteins in HEK293 cells. BMC Biotechnol 2013; 13:52. [PMID: 23802841 PMCID: PMC3699382 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6750-13-52] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2012] [Accepted: 05/24/2013] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The demand of monospecific high affinity binding reagents, particularly monoclonal antibodies, has been steadily increasing over the last years. Enhanced throughput of antibody generation has been addressed by optimizing in vitro selection using phage display which moved the major bottleneck to the production and purification of recombinant antibodies in an end-user friendly format. Single chain (sc)Fv antibody fragments require additional tags for detection and are not as suitable as immunoglobulins (Ig)G in many immunoassays. In contrast, the bivalent scFv-Fc antibody format shares many properties with IgG and has a very high application compatibility. Results In this study transient expression of scFv-Fc antibodies in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells was optimized. Production levels of 10-20 mg/L scFv-Fc antibody were achieved in adherent HEK293T cells. Employment of HEK293-6E suspension cells expressing a truncated variant of the Epstein Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen (EBNA) 1 in combination with production under serum free conditions increased the volumetric yield up to 10-fold to more than 140 mg/L scFv-Fc antibody. After vector optimization and process optimization the yield of an scFv-Fc antibody and a cytotoxic antibody-RNase fusion protein further increased 3-4-fold to more than 450 mg/L. Finally, an entirely new mammalian expression vector was constructed for single step in frame cloning of scFv genes from antibody phage display libraries. Transient expression of more than 20 different scFv-Fc antibodies resulted in volumetric yields of up to 600 mg/L and 400 mg/L in average. Conclusion Transient production of recombinant scFv-Fc antibodies in HEK293-6E in combination with optimized vectors and fed batch shake flasks cultivation is efficient and robust, and integrates well into a high-throughput recombinant antibody generation pipeline.
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Gasser B, Prielhofer R, Marx H, Maurer M, Nocon J, Steiger M, Puxbaum V, Sauer M, Mattanovich D. Pichia pastoris: protein production host and model organism for biomedical research. Future Microbiol 2013; 8:191-208. [DOI: 10.2217/fmb.12.133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 168] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Pichia pastoris is the most frequently used yeast system for heterologous protein production today. The last few years have seen several products based on this platform reach approval as biopharmaceutical drugs. Successful glycoengineering to humanize N-glycans is further fuelling this development. However, detailed understanding of the yeast’s physiology, genetics and regulation has only developed rapidly in the last few years since published genome sequences have become available. An expanding toolbox of genetic elements and strains for the improvement of protein production is being generated, including promoters, gene copy-number enhancement, gene knockout and high-throughput methods. Protein folding and secretion have been identified as significant bottlenecks in yeast expression systems, pinpointing a major target for strain optimization. At the same time, it has become obvious that P. pastoris, as an evolutionarily more ‘ancient’ yeast, may in some cases be a better model for human cell biology and disease than Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Gasser
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Roland Prielhofer
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Hans Marx
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Maurer
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), 1190 Vienna, Austria
- University of Applied Sciences FH-Campus Vienna, School of Bioengineering, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Justyna Nocon
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthias Steiger
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Verena Puxbaum
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Sauer
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Diethard Mattanovich
- University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology, 1190 Vienna, Austria
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Carbohydrate synthesis and biosynthesis technologies for cracking of the glycan code: recent advances. Biotechnol Adv 2012; 31:17-37. [PMID: 22484115 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2012.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2011] [Revised: 03/06/2012] [Accepted: 03/20/2012] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The glycan code of glycoproteins can be conceptually defined at molecular level by the sequence of well characterized glycans attached to evolutionarily predetermined amino acids along the polypeptide chain. Functional consequences of protein glycosylation are numerous, and include a hierarchy of properties from general physicochemical characteristics such as solubility, stability and protection of the polypeptide from the environment up to specific glycan interactions. Definition of the glycan code for glycoproteins has been so far hampered by the lack of chemically defined glycoprotein glycoforms that proved to be extremely difficult to purify from natural sources, and the total chemical synthesis of which has been hitherto possible only for very small molecular species. This review summarizes the recent progress in chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of complex glycans and their protein conjugates. Progress in our understanding of the ways in which a particular glycoprotein glycoform gives rise to a unique set of functional properties is now having far reaching implications for the biotechnology of important glycodrugs such as therapeutical monoclonal antibodies, glycoprotein hormones, carbohydrate conjugates used for vaccination and other practically important protein-carbohydrate conjugates.
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Ha S, Ou Y, Vlasak J, Li Y, Wang S, Vo K, Du Y, Mach A, Fang Y, Zhang N. Isolation and characterization of IgG1 with asymmetrical Fc glycosylation. Glycobiology 2011; 21:1087-96. [PMID: 21470983 DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwr047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
N-glycosylation of immunoglobulin G (IgG) at asparigine residue 297 plays a critical role in antibody stability and immune cell-mediated Fc effector function. Current understanding pertaining to Fc glycosylation is based on studies with IgGs that are either fully glycosylated [both heavy chain (HC) glycosylated] or aglycosylated (neither HC glycosylated). No study has been reported on the properties of hemi-glycosylated IgGs, antibodies with asymmetrical glycosylation in the Fc region such that one HC is glycosylated and the other is aglycosylated. We report here for the first time a detailed study of how hemi-glycosylation affects the stability and functional activities of an IgG1 antibody, mAb-X, in comparison to its fully glycosylated counterpart. Our results show that hemi-glycosylation does not impact Fab-mediated antigen binding, nor does it impact neonatal Fc receptor binding. Hemi-glycosylated mAb-X has slightly decreased thermal stability in the CH2 domain and a moderate decrease (∼20%) in C1q binding. More importantly, the hemi-glycosylated form shows significantly decreased binding affinities toward all Fc gamma receptors (FcγRs) including the high-affinity FcγRI, and the low-affinity FcγRIIA, FcγRIIB, FcγRIIIA and FcγRIIIB. The decreased binding affinities to FcγRs result in a 3.5-fold decrease in antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC). As ADCC often plays an important role in therapeutic antibody efficacy, glycosylation status will not only affect the antibody quality but also may impact the biological function of the product.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sha Ha
- Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA 19486, USA
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