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Passariello M, Esposito S, Manna L, Rapuano Lembo R, Zollo I, Sasso E, Amato F, De Lorenzo C. Comparative Analysis of a Human Neutralizing mAb Specific for SARS-CoV-2 Spike-RBD with Cilgavimab and Tixagevimab for the Efficacy on the Omicron Variant in Neutralizing and Detection Assays. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:10053. [PMID: 37373201 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241210053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The recent pandemic years have prompted the scientific community to increasingly search for and adopt new and more efficient therapeutic and diagnostic approaches to deal with a new infection. In addition to the development of vaccines, which has played a leading role in fighting the pandemic, the development of monoclonal antibodies has also represented a valid approach in the prevention and treatment of many cases of CoronaVirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recently, we reported the development of a human antibody, named D3, showing neutralizing activity against different SARS-CoV-2 variants, wild-type, UK, Delta and Gamma variants. Here, we have further characterized with different methods D3's ability to bind the Omicron-derived recombinant RBD by comparing it with the antibodies Cilgavimab and Tixagevimab, recently approved for prophylactic use of COVID-19. We demonstrate here that D3 binds to a distinct epitope from that recognized by Cilgavimab and shows a different binding kinetic behavior. Furthermore, we report that the ability of D3 to bind the recombinant Omicron RBD domain in vitro results in a good ability to also neutralize Omicron-pseudotyped virus infection in ACE2-expressing cell cultures. We point out here that D3 mAb maintains a good ability to recognize both the wild-type and Omicron Spike proteins, either when used as recombinant purified proteins or when expressed on pseudoviral particles despite the different variants, making it particularly useful both from a therapeutic and diagnostic point of view. On the basis of these results, we propose to exploit this mAb for combinatorial treatments with other neutralizing mAbs to increase their therapeutic efficacy and for diagnostic use to measure the viral load in biological samples in the current and future pandemic waves of coronaviruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margherita Passariello
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, NA, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Speranza Esposito
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Manna
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, NA, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Rosa Rapuano Lembo
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
- European School of Molecular Medicine, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, MI, Italy
| | - Immacolata Zollo
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Emanuele Sasso
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, NA, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Felice Amato
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, NA, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
| | - Claudia De Lorenzo
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, NA, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, NA, Italy
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Passariello M, Yoshioka A, Takahashi K, Hashimoto SI, Inoue T, Nakamura K, De Lorenzo C. Novel tri-specific tribodies induce strong T cell activation and anti-tumor effects in vitro and in vivo. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2022; 41:269. [PMID: 36071464 PMCID: PMC9450414 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-022-02474-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Immunotherapy based on Bi-specific T Cell Engagers (TCE) represents one of the most attractive strategy to treat cancers resistant to conventional therapies. TCE are antibody-like proteins that simultaneously bind with one arm to a Tumor Associated Antigen (TAA) on cancer cells and with the other one to CD3 complex on a T-cell to form a TCR-independent immune synapse and circumvent Human Leucocyte Antigen restriction. Among them, the tribodies, such as Tb535H, a bi-specific molecule, made up of a Fab and a scFv domain both targeting 5T4 and another scFv targeting CD3, have demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy in preclinical studies. Methods Here, we generated five novel tri-specific and multi-functional tribodies, called 53X tribodies, composed of a 5T4 binding Fab arm and a CD3 binding scFv, but differently from the parental Tb535H, they contain an additional scFv derived from an antibody specific for an immune checkpoint, such as PD-1, PD-L1 or LAG-3. Results Compared with the parental Tb535H bi-specific T cell engager targeting 5T4, the novel 53X tribodies retained similar binding properties of Tb535H tribody, but showed enhanced anti-tumor potency due to the incorporation of the checkpoint inhibitory moiety. In particular, one of them, called 53L10, a tri-specific T cell engager targeting 5T4, CD3 and PD-L1, showed the most promising anti-tumor efficacy in vitro and led to complete tumor regression in vivo. Conclusions The novel tribodies have the potential to become strong and safe therapeutic drugs, allowing to reduce also the cost of production as one single molecule contains three different specificities including the anti-TAA, anti-CD3 and anti-IC binding arms. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-022-02474-3.
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Novel Bi-Specific Immuno-Modulatory Tribodies Potentiate T Cell Activation and Increase Anti-Tumor Efficacy. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23073466. [PMID: 35408827 PMCID: PMC8998846 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23073466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapy has already shown significant improvements by combining different antibodies specific for distinct immune checkpoints, such as Ipilimumab and Nivolumab. Here, we tested combinatorial treatments of immunomodulatory antibodies, previously generated in our laboratory, for their effects on hPBMC activation, either upon stimulation with SEB or in co-cultures with tumor cells by cytokine secretion assays. We found that some of them showed additive or synergistic effects, and on the basis of these observations, we constructed, for the first time, four novel bispecific tribodies (TR), made up of a Fab derived from one anti-IC mAb and two scFvs derived from another mAb targeting a different IC. All four TRs cotargeting either programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and Lymphocyte Activating 3 (LAG-3) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and LAG-3 retained binding affinity for their targets and the antagonistic effects of their parental mAbs, but some of them also showed an increased ability to induce lymphocyte activation and increased in vitro cytotoxicity against tumor cells compared to parental antibodies used either alone or in combinatorial treatments. Furthermore, none of the tribodies showed significant increased cytotoxicity on human cardiomyocytes. Considering that the tribody format reduces production costs (as only one construct provides the inhibitory effects of two antibodies), has an intermediate molecular size (100 kDa) which is well suited for both tumor penetration and an acceptable half-life, we think that these novel immunomodulatory TRBs have the potential to become precious tools for therapeutic applications, particularly in monotherapy-resistant cancer patients.
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Passariello M, Camorani S, Vetrei C, Cerchia L, De Lorenzo C. Novel Human Bispecific Aptamer-Antibody Conjugates for Efficient Cancer Cell Killing. Cancers (Basel) 2019; 11:E1268. [PMID: 31470510 PMCID: PMC6770524 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11091268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of various human cancers. More recently, oligonucleotide aptamers have risen increasing attention for cancer therapy thanks to their low size (efficient tumor penetration) and lack of immunogenicity, even though the short half-life and lack of effector functions still hinder their clinical applications. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, that two novel bispecific conjugates, consisting of an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) aptamer linked either with an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2) compact antibody or with an immunomodulatory (anti-PD-L1) antibody, were easily and rapidly obtained. These novel aptamer-antibody conjugates retain the targeting ability of both the parental moieties and acquire a more potent cancer cell killing activity by combining their inhibitory properties. Furthermore, the conjugation of the anti-EGFR aptamer with the immunomodulatory antibody allowed for the efficient redirection and activation of T cells against cancer cells, thus dramatically enhancing the cytotoxicity of the two conjugated partners. We think that these bispecific antibody-aptamer conjugates could have optimal biological features for therapeutic applications, such as increased specificity for tumor cells expressing both targets and improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties due to the combined advantages of the aptamer and antibody.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margherita Passariello
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy
| | - Simona Camorani
- Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology "Gaetano Salvatore" (IEOS), CNR, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Cinzia Vetrei
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy
| | - Laura Cerchia
- Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology "Gaetano Salvatore" (IEOS), CNR, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
| | - Claudia De Lorenzo
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
- Ceinge-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c. a.r.l., via Gaetano Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy.
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Quagliariello V, Passariello M, Coppola C, Rea D, Barbieri A, Scherillo M, Monti MG, Iaffaioli RV, De Laurentiis M, Ascierto PA, Botti G, De Lorenzo C, Maurea N. Cardiotoxicity and pro-inflammatory effects of the immune checkpoint inhibitor Pembrolizumab associated to Trastuzumab. Int J Cardiol 2019; 292:171-179. [PMID: 31160077 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.05.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Revised: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The immunotherapy has revolutionized the world of oncology in the last decades with considerable advantages in terms of overall survival in cancer patients. The association of Pembrolizumab and Trastuzumab was recently proposed in clinical trials for the treatment of Trastuzumab-resistant advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. Although immunotherapies are frequently associated with a wide spectrum of immune-related adverse events, the cardiac toxicity has not been properly studied. PURPOSE We studied, for the first time, the putative cardiotoxic and pro-inflammatory effects of Pembrolizumab associated to Trastuzumab. METHODS Cell viability, intracellular calcium quantification and pro-inflammatory studies (analyses of the production of Interleukin 1β, 6 and 8, the expression of NF-kB and Leukotriene B4) were performed in human fetal cardiomyocytes. Preclinical studies were also performed in C57BL6 mice by analyzing fibrosis and inflammation in heart tissues. RESULTS The combination of Pembrolizumab and Trastuzumab leads to an increase of the intracellular calcium overload (of 3 times compared to untreated cells) and to a reduction of the cardiomyocytes viability (of 65 and 20-25%, compared to untreated and Pembrolizumab or Trastuzumab treated cells, respectively) indicating cardiotoxic effects. Notably, combination therapy increases the inflammation of cardiomyocytes by enhancing the expression of NF-kB and Interleukins. Moreover, in preclinical models, the association of Pembrolizumab and Trastuzumab increases the Interleukins expression of 40-50% compared to the single treatments; the expression of NF-kB and Leukotriene B4 was also increased. CONCLUSION Pembrolizumab associated to Trastuzumab leads to strong cardiac pro-inflammatory effects mediated by overexpression of NF-kB and Leukotriene B4 related pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Quagliariello
- Division of Cardiology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - M Passariello
- CEINGE - Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.a.R.L., Naples, Italy
| | - C Coppola
- Division of Cardiology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - D Rea
- Animal Facility, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - A Barbieri
- Animal Facility, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - M Scherillo
- Azienda ospedaliera San Pio, Cardiologia Interventistica ed UTIC, Azienda Ospedaliera "G.Rummo" di Benevento, Napoli, Italy
| | - M G Monti
- Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University Federico II, Naples, Italy
| | - R V Iaffaioli
- Association for Multidisciplinary Studies in Oncology and Mediterranean Diet, Piazza Nicola Amore, Naples, Italy
| | - M De Laurentiis
- Breast Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - P A Ascierto
- Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - G Botti
- Scientific Direction, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy
| | - C De Lorenzo
- CEINGE - Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.a.R.L., Naples, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Napoli, Italy.
| | - N Maurea
- Division of Cardiology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori- IRCCS- Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy.
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Liu J, Wu X, Lin L, Pan H, Wang Y, Li Y, Zhao Y, Wang Z. Bp-Bs, a Novel T-cell Engaging Bispecific Antibody with Biparatopic Her2 Binding, Has Potent Anti-tumor Activities. MOLECULAR THERAPY-ONCOLYTICS 2019; 14:66-73. [PMID: 31020038 PMCID: PMC6475711 DOI: 10.1016/j.omto.2019.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Patients with Human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (Her2) overexpression are associated with aggressive tumor growth and poor clinical outcomes. Bispecific antibodies targeting Her2 have recently exhibited potent effects on Her2 signal inhibition. In this study, a novel biparatopic anti-Her2 bispecific antibody (Bp-Bs) was constructed by linking a single anti-CD3 Fab with two different anti-Her2 single-domain antibodies targeting non-overlapping epitopes of Her2. The Bp-Bs demonstrated strong binding on Her2-positive cells and potent cytotoxicity on Her2-positive tumor cells, even Her2-low expression cells, suggesting that biparatopic bispecific antibodies may have improved therapeutic benefits on broad Her2 patient populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayu Liu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xiaoqiong Wu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Limin Lin
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Haitao Pan
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yanlan Wang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yumei Li
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yining Zhao
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zhong Wang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
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