A human FVIII inhibitor modulates FVIII surface electrostatics at a VWF-binding site distant from its epitope

Transplacental delivery of therapeutic proteins by engineered immunoglobulin G: a step toward perinatal replacement therapy

BACKGROUND

Transplacental delivery of maternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) provides humoral protection during the first months of life until the newborn's immune system reaches maturity. The maternofetal interface has been exploited therapeutically to replace missing enzymes in the fetus, as shown in experimental mucopolysaccharidoses, or to shape adaptive immune repertoires during fetal development and induce tolerance to self-antigens or immunogenic therapeutic molecules.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate whether proteins that are administered to pregnant mice or endogenously present in their circulation may be delivered through the placenta.

METHODS

We engineered monovalent immunoglobulin G (FabFc) specific for different domains of human factor VIII (FVIII), a therapeutically relevant model antigen. FabFc was injected with exogenous FVIII into pregnant severe hemophilia A mice or pregnant mice expressing human FVIII following AAV8-mediated gene therapy. FabFc and FVIII were detected in the pregnant mice and/or fetuses by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

Administration of FabFc to pregnant mice allowed the maternofetal delivery of FVIII in a FcRn-dependent manner. FVIII antigen levels achieved in the fetuses represented 10% of normal plasma levels in the human. We identified antigen/FabFc complex stability, antigen size, and shielding of promiscuous protein patches as key parameters to foster optimal antigen delivery.

CONCLUSION

Our results pave the way toward the development of novel strategies for the in utero delivery of endogenous maternal proteins to replace genetically deficient fetal proteins or to educate the immune system and favor active immune tolerance upon protein encounter later in life.

Structural insights into blood coagulation factor VIII: Procoagulant complexes, membrane binding, and antibody inhibition

Advances in structural studies of blood coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) have provided unique insight into FVIII biochemistry. Atomic detail models of the B domain-deleted FVIII structure alone and in complex with its circulatory partner, von Willebrand factor (VWF), provide a structure-based rationale for hemophilia A-associated mutations which impair FVIII stability and increase FVIII clearance rates. In this review, we discuss the findings from these studies and their implications toward the design of a recombinant FVIII with improved circulatory half-life. Additionally, we highlight recent structural studies of FVIII bound to inhibitory antibodies that have refined our understanding of FVIII binding to activated platelet membranes and formation of the intrinsic tenase complex. The combination of bioengineering and structural efforts to understand FVIII biochemistry will improve therapeutics for treating hemophilia A, either through FVIII replacement therapeutics, immune tolerance induction, or gene therapy approaches.

Characterisation and application of recombinant FVIII-neutralising antibodies from haemophilia A inhibitor patients

The development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) is a serious outcome of treatment strategies involving biological medicines. Coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) is used to treat haemophilia A patients, but its immunogenicity precludes a third of severe haemophiliac patients from receiving this treatment. The availability of patient-derived anti-drug antibodies can help us better understand drug immunogenicity and identify ways to overcome it. Thus, there were two aims to this work: (i) to develop and characterise a panel of recombinant, patient-derived, monoclonal antibodies covering a range of FVIII epitopes with varying potencies, kinetics and mechanism of action, and (ii) to demonstrate their applicability to assay development, evaluation of FVIII molecules and basic research. For the first objective we used recombinant antibodies to develop a rapid, sensitive, flexible and reproducible ex vivo assay that recapitulates inhibitor patient blood using blood from healthy volunteers. We also demonstrate how the panel can provide important information about the efficacy of FVIII products and reagents without the need for patient or animal material. These materials can be used as experimental exemplars or controls, as well as tools for rational, hypothesis-driven research and assay development in relation to FVIII immunogenicity and FVIII-related products.

V Region of IgG Controls the Molecular Properties of the Binding Site for Neonatal Fc Receptor

Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) has a key role in the homeostasis of IgG. Despite its physiological and clinical importance, the interaction of IgG and FcRn remains not completely comprehended. Thus, IgG molecules with identical constant portions but with minor differences in their V regions have been demonstrated to interact with FcRn with a considerable heterogeneity in the binding affinity. To understand this discrepancy, we dissected the physicochemical mechanism of the interaction of 10 human IgG1 to human FcRn. The interactions of two Abs in the presence of their cognate Ags were also examined. Data from activation and equilibrium thermodynamics analyses as well as pH dependence of the kinetics revealed that the V region of IgG could modulate a degree of conformational changes and binding energy of noncovalent contacts at the FcRn binding interface. These results suggest that the V domains modulate FcRn binding site in Fc by allosteric effects. These findings contribute for a deeper understanding of the mechanism of IgG-FcRn interaction. They might also be of relevance for rational engineering of Abs for optimizing their pharmacokinetic properties.

Pathogenic immune response to therapeutic factor VIII: exacerbated response or failed induction of tolerance?

Therapeutic factor VIII is highly immunogenic. Despite intensive research in the last decades, the reasons why 5-30% of patients with hemophilia A (of all severities) develop inhibitory anti-factor VIII antibodies (inhibitors) following replacement therapy remain an enigma. Under physiological conditions, endogenous factor VIII is recognized by the immune system. Likewise, numerous observations indicate that, in hemophilia A patients without inhibitors, exogenous therapeutic factor VIII is immunologically assessed and tolerated. A large part of the research on the immunogenicity of therapeutic factor VIII is attempting to identify the ‘danger signals’ that act as adjuvants to the deleterious anti-factor VIII immune responses. However, several of the inflammatory assaults concomitant to factor VIII administration initially hypothesized as potential sources of danger signals (e.g., bleeding, infection, and vaccination) have been disproved to be such signals. Conversely, recent evidence suggests that cells from inhibitor-negative patients are able to activate anti-inflammatory and tolerogenic mechanisms required to suppress deleterious immune responses, while cells from inhibitor-positive patients are not. Based on the available observations, we propose a model in which all hemophilia A patients develop anti-factor VIII immune responses during replacement therapy irrespective of associated danger signals. We further postulate that the onset of clinically relevant factor VIII inhibitors results from an inability to develop counteractive tolerogenic responses to exogenous factor VIII rather than from an exacerbated activation of the immune system at the time of factor VIII administration. A better understanding of the pathogenesis of neutralizing anti-factor VIII antibodies will have repercussions on the clinical management of patients and highlight new strategies to achieve active immune tolerance to therapeutic factor VIII.

Structure of the Human Factor VIII C2 Domain in Complex with the 3E6 Inhibitory Antibody

Blood coagulation factor VIII is a glycoprotein cofactor that is essential for the intrinsic pathway of the blood coagulation cascade. Inhibitory antibodies arise either spontaneously or in response to therapeutic infusion of functional factor VIII into hemophilia A patients, many of which are specific to the factor VIII C2 domain. The immune response is largely parsed into "classical" and "non-classical" inhibitory antibodies, which bind to opposing faces cooperatively. In this study, the 2.61 Å resolution structure of the C2 domain in complex with the antigen-binding fragment of the 3E6 classical inhibitory antibody is reported. The binding interface is largely conserved when aligned with the previously determined structure of the C2 domain in complex with two antibodies simultaneously. Further inspection of the B factors for the C2 domain in various X-ray crystal structures indicates that 3E6 antibody binding decreases the thermal motion behavior of surface loops in the C2 domain on the opposing face, thereby suggesting that cooperative antibody binding is a dynamic effect. Understanding the structural nature of the immune response to factor VIII following hemophilia A treatment will help lead to the development of better therapeutic reagents.

The 1.7 Å X-ray crystal structure of the porcine factor VIII C2 domain and binding analysis to anti-human C2 domain antibodies and phospholipid surfaces

The factor VIII C2 domain is essential for binding to activated platelet surfaces as well as the cofactor activity of factor VIII in blood coagulation. Inhibitory antibodies against the C2 domain commonly develop following factor VIII replacement therapy for hemophilia A patients, or they may spontaneously arise in cases of acquired hemophilia. Porcine factor VIII is an effective therapeutic for hemophilia patients with inhibitor due to its low cross-reactivity; however, the molecular basis for this behavior is poorly understood. In this study, the X-ray crystal structure of the porcine factor VIII C2 domain was determined, and superposition of the human and porcine C2 domains demonstrates that most surface-exposed differences cluster on the face harboring the "non-classical" antibody epitopes. Furthermore, antibody-binding results illustrate that the "classical" 3E6 antibody can bind both the human and porcine C2 domains, although the inhibitory titer to human factor VIII is 41 Bethesda Units (BU)/mg IgG versus 0.8 BU/mg IgG to porcine factor VIII, while the non-classical G99 antibody does not bind to the porcine C2 domain nor inhibit porcine factor VIII activity. Further structural analysis of differences between the electrostatic surface potentials suggest that the C2 domain binds to the negatively charged phospholipid surfaces of activated platelets primarily through the 3E6 epitope region. In contrast, the G99 face, which contains residue 2227, should be distal to the membrane surface. Phospholipid binding assays indicate that both porcine and human factor VIII C2 domains bind with comparable affinities, and the human K2227A and K2227E mutants bind to phospholipid surfaces with similar affinities as well. Lastly, the G99 IgG bound to PS-immobilized factor VIII C2 domain with an apparent dissociation constant of 15.5 nM, whereas 3E6 antibody binding to PS-bound C2 domain was not observed.

Six amino acid residues in a 1200 Å2 interface mediate binding of factor VIII to an IgG4κ inhibitory antibody

The development of neutralizing anti-factor VIII (FVIII) antibodies complicates the treatment of many hemophilia A patients. The C-terminal C2 domain is a particularly antigenic FVIII region. A crystal structure of recombinant FVIII-C2 bound to an Fab fragment of the patient-derived monoclonal antibody BO2C11, which recognizes an immunodominant inhibitor epitope on FVIII and blocks its ability to bind von Willebrand factor (VWF) and phospholipids, revealed that 15 amino acids in FVIII contact this antibody. Forty-three recombinant FVIII-C2 proteins, each with a surface-exposed side chain mutated to alanine or another residue, were generated, and surface plasmon resonance studies were carried out to evaluate effects of these substitutions on BO2C11/FVIII-C2 binding affinity. Thermodynamic analysis of experiments carried out at three temperatures indicated that one beta hairpin turn at the antigen-antibody interface (FVIII-F2196, N2198, M2199 and F2200) plus two non-contiguous arginines (FVIII-R2215 and R2220), contributed appreciably to the affinity. B-domain-deleted (BDD) FVIII-F2196A, FVIII-F2196K and FVIII-M2199A were generated and characterized. Their pro-coagulant activities and binding to VWF were similar to those of WT-BDD-FVIII, and FVIII-F2196K avoided neutralization by BO2C11 and murine inhibitory mAb 1B5. This study suggests specific sites for amino acid substitutions to rationally design FVIII variants capable of evading immunodominant neutralizing anti-FVIII antibodies.

In silico calculated affinity of FVIII-derived peptides for HLA class II alleles predicts inhibitor development in haemophilia A patients with missense mutations in the F8 gene

Forty per cent of haemophilia A (HA) patients have missense mutations in the F8 gene. Yet, all patients with identical mutations are not at the same risk of developing factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitors. In severe HA patients, human leucocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype was identified as a risk factor for onset of FVIII inhibitors. We hypothesized that missense mutations in endogenous FVIII alter the affinity of the mutated peptides for HLA class II, thus skewing FVIII-specific T-cell tolerance and increasing the risk that the corresponding wild-type FVIII-derived peptides induce an anti-FVIII immune response during replacement therapy. Here, we investigated whether affinity for HLA class II of wild-type FVIII-derived peptides that correspond to missense mutations described in the Haemophilia A Mutation, Structure, Test and Resource database is associated with inhibitor development. We predicted the mean affinity for 10 major HLA class II alleles of wild-type FVIII-derived peptides that corresponded to 1456 reported cases of missense mutations. Linear regression analysis confirmed a significant association between the predicted mean peptide affinity and the mutation inhibitory status (P = 0.006). Significance was lost after adjustment on mutation position on FVIII domains. Although analysis of the A1-A2-A3-C1 domains yielded a positive correlation between predicted HLA-binding affinity and inhibitory status (OR = 0.29 [95% CI: 0.14-0.60] for the high affinity tertile, P = 0.002), the C2 domain-restricted analysis indicated an inverse correlation (OR = 3.56 [1.10-11.52], P = 0.03). Our data validate the importance of the affinity of FVIII peptides for HLA alleles to the immunogenicity of therapeutic FVIII in patients with missense mutations.

Structure of the factor VIII C2 domain in a ternary complex with 2 inhibitor antibodies reveals classical and nonclassical epitopes

The factor VIII C2 domain is a highly immunogenic domain, whereby inhibitory antibodies develop following factor VIII replacement therapy for congenital hemophilia A patients. Inhibitory antibodies also arise spontaneously in cases of acquired hemophilia A. The structural basis for molecular recognition by 2 classes of anti-C2 inhibitory antibodies that bind to factor VIII simultaneously was investigated by x-ray crystallography. The C2 domain/3E6 FAB/G99 FAB ternary complex illustrates that each antibody recognizes epitopes on opposing faces of the factor VIII C2 domain. The 3E6 epitope forms direct contacts to the C2 domain at 2 loops consisting of Glu2181-Ala2188 and Thr2202-Arg2215, whereas the G99 epitope centers on Lys2227 and also makes direct contacts with loops Gln2222-Trp2229, Leu2261-Ser2263, His2269-Val2282, and Arg2307-Gln2311. Each binding interface is highly electrostatic, with positive charge present on both C2 epitopes and complementary negative charge on each antibody. A new model of membrane association is also presented, where the 3E6 epitope faces the negatively charged membrane surface and Arg2320 is poised at the center of the binding interface. These results illustrate the potential complexities of the polyclonal anti-factor VIII immune response and further define the "classical" and "nonclassical" types of antibody inhibitors against the factor VIII C2 domain.

Thermodynamic analysis of the interaction of factor VIII with von Willebrand factor

Factor VIII (FVIII) is a glycoprotein that plays an important role in the intrinsic pathway of coagulation. In circulation, FVIII is protected upon binding to von Willebrand factor (VWF), a chaperone molecule that regulates its half-life, distribution, and activity. Despite the biological significance of this interaction, its molecular mechanisms are not fully characterized. We determined the equilibrium and activation thermodynamics of the interaction between FVIII and VWF. The equilibrium affinity determined by surface plasmon resonance was temperature-dependent with a value of 0.8 nM at 35 °C. The FVIII-VWF interaction was characterized by very fast association (8.56 × 10(6) M(-1) s(-1)) and fast dissociation (6.89 × 10(-3) s(-1)) rates. Both the equilibrium association and association rate constants, but not the dissociation rate constant, were dependent on temperature. Binding of FVIII to VWF was characterized by favorable changes in the equilibrium and activation entropy (TΔS° = 89.4 kJ/mol, and -TΔS(++) = -8.9 kJ/mol) and unfavorable changes in the equilibrium and activation enthalpy (ΔH° = 39.1 kJ/mol, and ΔH(++) = 44.1 kJ/mol), yielding a negative change in the equilibrium Gibbs energy. Binding of FVIII to VWF in solid-phase assays demonstrated a high sensitivity to acidic pH and a sensitivity to ionic strength. Our data indicate that the interaction between FVIII and VWF is mediated mainly by electrostatic forces, and that it is not accompanied by entropic constraints, suggesting the absence of conformational adaptation but the presence of rigid "pre-optimized" binding surfaces.