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Di Ianni A, Barbero L, Fraone T, Cowan K, Sirtori FR. Preclinical risk assessment strategy to mitigate the T-cell dependent immunogenicity of protein biotherapeutics: State of the art, challenges and future perspectives. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2023; 234:115500. [PMID: 37311374 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Protein therapeutics hold a prominent role and have brought significant diversity in efficacious medicinal products. Not just monoclonal antibodies and different antibody formats (pegylated antigen-binding fragments, bispecifics, antibody-drug conjugates, single chain variable fragments, nanobodies, dia-, tria- and tetrabodies), but also purified blood products, growth factors, recombinant cytokines, enzyme replacement factors, fusion proteins are all good instances of therapeutic proteins that have been developed in the past decades and approved for their value in oncology, immune-oncology, and autoimmune diseases discovery programs. Although there was an ingrained belief that fully humanized proteins were expected to have limited immunogenicity, adverse effects associated with immune responses to biological therapies raised some concern in biotech companies. Consequently, drug developers are designing strategies to assess potential immune responses to protein therapeutics during both the preclinical and clinical phases of development. Despite the many factors that can contribute to protein immunogenicity, T cell- (thymus-) dependent (Td) immunogenicity seems to play a crucial role in the development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to biologics. A broad range of methodologies to predict and rationally assess Td immune responses to protein drugs has been developed. This review aims to briefly summarize the preclinical immunogenicity risk assessment strategy to mitigate the risk of potential immunogenic candidates coming towards clinical phases, discussing the advantages and limitations of these technologies, and suggesting a rational approach for assessing and mitigating Td immunogenicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Di Ianni
- University of Turin, Molecular Biotechnology Center, Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy; NBE-DMPK Innovative BioAnalytics, Merck Serono RBM S.p.A., an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Via Ribes 1, 10010 Colleretto Giacosa (TO), Italy
| | - Luca Barbero
- NBE-DMPK Innovative BioAnalytics, Merck Serono RBM S.p.A., an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Via Ribes 1, 10010 Colleretto Giacosa (TO), Italy
| | - Tiziana Fraone
- NBE-DMPK Innovative BioAnalytics, Merck Serono RBM S.p.A., an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Via Ribes 1, 10010 Colleretto Giacosa (TO), Italy
| | - Kyra Cowan
- New Biological Entities, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (NBE-DMPK), Research and Development, Merck KGaA, Frankfurterstrasse 250, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Federico Riccardi Sirtori
- NBE-DMPK Innovative BioAnalytics, Merck Serono RBM S.p.A., an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Via Ribes 1, 10010 Colleretto Giacosa (TO), Italy.
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Casasola-LaMacchia A, Seward RJ, Tourdot S, Willetts M, Kruppa G, Agostino MJ, Bergeron G, Ahyi-Amendah N, Ciarla A, Lu Z, Kim HY, Hickling TP, Neubert H. HLAII peptide presentation of infliximab increases when complexed with TNF. Front Immunol 2022; 13:932252. [PMID: 36177046 PMCID: PMC9513746 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.932252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
CD4+ T-cell activation through recognition of Human Leukocyte Antigen II (HLAII)-presented peptides is a key step in the development of unwanted immune response against biotherapeutics, such as the generation of anti-drug antibodies (ADA). Therefore, the identification of HLAII-presented peptides derived from biotherapeutics is a crucial part of immunogenicity risk assessment and mitigation strategies during drug development. To date, numerous CD4+ T-cell epitopes have been identified by HLAII immunopeptidomics in antibody-based biotherapeutics using either their native or aggregated form. Antibody-target immune complexes have been detected in patients with ADA and are thought to play a role in ADA development by enhancing the presentation of CD4+ T-cell epitopes at the surface of antigen presenting cells (APCs). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of biotherapeutic antibody-target immune complexes on the HLAII peptide presentation of biotherapeutics in human primary monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs). The trimeric tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its biotherapeutic antagonists infliximab (INFL), adalimumab (ADAL), and a single armed Fab’ were used as a model system. The HLAII immunopeptidome of DCs loaded with antagonists or their immune complexes with TNF was analyzed by trapped ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry (timsTOF MS) leading to the identification of ~ 12,000 unique HLAII-associated peptides per preparation. Anti-TNF sequences were detected at a median of 0.3% of the total immunopeptidome, against a majority background of peptides from endogenous and media-derived proteins. TNF antagonist presentation spanned the variable and constant regions in a widespread manner in both light and heavy chains, consistent with previously discovered HLAII peptides. This investigation extends the collection of observed HLAII peptides from anti-TNF biotherapeutics to include sequences that at least partially span the complementary determining regions (CDRs), such as the LCDR1 for both INFL and ADAL. Although antagonist presentation varied significantly across donors, peptides from both bivalent antagonists INFL and ADAL were more highly presented relative to the Fab’. While TNF immune complexes did not alter overall HLAII presentation, a moderate increase in presentation of a subset of peptide clusters was observed in the case of INFL-TNF, which included HCDR2, HCDR3 and LCDR2 sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Casasola-LaMacchia
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
- *Correspondence: Andrea Casasola-LaMacchia,
| | - Robert Joseph Seward
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Sophie Tourdot
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | | | - Gary Kruppa
- Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, MA, United States
| | | | - Gabrielle Bergeron
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Nathalie Ahyi-Amendah
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Andrew Ciarla
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Zhaojiang Lu
- Analytical Research and Development, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Hai-Young Kim
- Analytical Research and Development, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Timothy P. Hickling
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
| | - Hendrik Neubert
- BioMedicine Design, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA, United States
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Zhou Y, Penny HL, Kroenke MA, Bautista B, Hainline K, Chea LS, Parnes J, Mytych DT. Immunogenicity assessment of bispecific antibody-based immunotherapy in oncology. J Immunother Cancer 2022; 10:jitc-2021-004225. [PMID: 35444060 PMCID: PMC9024276 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2021-004225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
With increasing numbers of bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) and multispecific products entering the clinic, recent data highlight immunogenicity as an emerging challenge in the development of such novel biologics. This review focuses on the immunogenicity risk assessment (IgRA) of BsAb-based immunotherapies for cancer, highlighting several risk factors that need to be considered. These include the novel scaffolds consisting of bioengineered sequences, the potentially synergistic immunomodulating mechanisms of action (MOAs) from different domains of the BsAb, as well as several other product-related and patient-related factors. In addition, the clinical relevance of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) against selected BsAbs developed as anticancer agents is reviewed and the advances in our knowledge of tools and strategies for immunogenicity prediction, monitoring, and mitigation are discussed. It is critical to implement a drug-specific IgRA during the early development stage to guide ADA monitoring and risk management strategies. This IgRA may include a combination of several assessment tools to identify drug-specific risks as well as a proactive risk mitigation approach for candidate or format selection during the preclinical stage. The IgRA is an on-going process throughout clinical development. IgRA during the clinical stage may bridge the gap between preclinical immunogenicity prediction and clinical immunogenicity, and retrospectively guide optimization efforts for next-generation BsAbs. This iterative process throughout development may improve the reliability of the IgRA and enable the implementation of effective risk mitigation strategies, laying the foundation for improved clinical success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanchen Zhou
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, South San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | - Mark A Kroenke
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Bianca Bautista
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Kelly Hainline
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Lynette S Chea
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, South San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jane Parnes
- Early Development, Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Daniel T Mytych
- Clinical Immunology, Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
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