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Zhong X, Schenk J, Sakorafas P, Chamberland J, Tam A, Thomas LM, Yan G, D' Antona AM, Lin L, Nocula-Lugowska M, Zhang Y, Sousa E, Cohen J, Gu L, Abel M, Donahue J, Lim S, Meade C, Zhou J, Riegel L, Birch A, Fennell BJ, Franklin E, Gomes JM, Tzvetkova B, Scarcelli JJ. Impacts of fast production of afucosylated antibodies and Fc mutants in ExpiCHO-S™ for enhancing FcγRIIIa binding and NK cell activation. J Biotechnol 2022; 360:79-91. [PMID: 36341973 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2022.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
This study has employed mammalian transient expression systems to generate afucosylated antibodies and antibody Fc mutants for rapid candidate screening in discovery and early development. While chemical treatment with the fucose analogue 2-fluoro-peracetyl-fucose during transient expression only partially produced antibodies with afucosylated N-glycans, the genetic inactivation of the FUT8 gene in ExpiCHO-S™ by CRISPR/Cas9 enabled the transient production of fully afucosylated antibodies. Human IgG1 and murine IgG2a generated by the ExpiCHOfut8KO cell line possessed a 8-to-11-fold enhanced FcγRIIIa binding activity in comparison with those produced by ExpiCHO-S™. The Fc mutant S239D/S298A/I332E produced by ExpiCHO-S™ had an approximate 2-fold higher FcγRIIIa affinity than that of the afucosylated wildtype molecule, although it displayed significantly lower thermal-stability. When the Fc mutant was produced in the ExpiCHOfut8KO cell line, the resulting afucosylated Fc mutant antibody had an additional approximate 6-fold increase in FcγRIIIa binding affinity. This synergistic effect between afucosylation and the Fc mutations was further verified by a natural killer (NK) cell activation assay. Together, these results have not only established an efficient large-scale transient CHO system for rapid production of afucosylated antibodies, but also confirmed a cooperative impact between afucosylation and Fc mutations on FcγRIIIa binding and NK cell activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaotian Zhong
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Jennifer Schenk
- Analytical R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - Paul Sakorafas
- Analytical R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - John Chamberland
- BioProcess R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - Amy Tam
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - L Michael Thomas
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Grace Yan
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Aaron M D' Antona
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Laura Lin
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Yan Zhang
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Eric Sousa
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Justin Cohen
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ling Gu
- Analytical R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - Molica Abel
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jacob Donahue
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Sean Lim
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Caryl Meade
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jing Zhou
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Logan Riegel
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Alex Birch
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Brian J Fennell
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, Grange Castle, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Edward Franklin
- BioMedicine Design, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, Grange Castle, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Jose M Gomes
- BioProcess R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - Boriana Tzvetkova
- Analytical R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA
| | - John J Scarcelli
- BioProcess R&D, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Sciences, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, 1 Burtt Road, Andover, MA 01810, USA.
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