Turning antibodies off and on again using a covalently tethered blocking peptide

A Generic Antibody-Blocking Protein That Enables pH-Switchable Activation of Antibody Activity

Molecular strategies that allow for reversible control of antibody activity have drawn considerable interest for both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Protein M is a generic antibody-binding protein that binds to the Fv domain of IgGs and, in doing so, blocks antigen binding. However, the dissociation of protein M is essentially irreversible, which has precluded its use as an antibody affinity reagent and molecular mask to control antibody activity. Here, we show that introduction of 8 histidine residues on the Fv binding interface of protein M results in a variant that shows pH-switchable IgG binding. This protein M-8his variant provides an attractive and universal affinity resin for the purification of IgGs, antibody fragments (Fab and single-chain variable fragments (scFv)), and antibody conjugates. Moreover, protein M-8his enables the pH-dependent blocking of therapeutic antibodies, allowing the selective targeting of cells at pH 6.0.