Ebenig, Aileen (2019)
Biopolymeric scaffold to achieve high drug-to-antibody ratios using site specific conjugation strategies.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Ph.D. Thesis, Primary publication
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Item Type: | Ph.D. Thesis | ||||
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Type of entry: | Primary publication | ||||
Title: | Biopolymeric scaffold to achieve high drug-to-antibody ratios using site specific conjugation strategies | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Referees: | Kolmar, Prof. Dr. Harald ; Neumann, Prof. Dr. Siegfried | ||||
Date: | 2019 | ||||
Place of Publication: | Darmstadt | ||||
Date of oral examination: | 15 July 2019 | ||||
Abstract: | Commercial antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are usually generated by unspecific conjugation of a toxic payload via random lysine or interchain cysteine residues within the antibody, thus leading to heterogeneous products and potential impaired target binding. As the number and conjugation site of a toxic payload influences the efficacy, immunogenicity, and pharmacokinetics of an ADC, various site-specific approaches have been to date developed, among them usage of unnatural amino acids and enzyme mediated conjugation strategies. Recent research deals with increasing drug-to-antibody ratios (DARs), as high DAR can improve the efficacy, especially against cells with low copy number of surface-presented target protein. However, high DARs come along with increasing hydrophobicity that results in aggregation of the ADC and its fast clearance from the body, thus reducing the efficacy. Hydrophilic linker, particular payload design or the usage of biocompatible hydrophilic scaffolds carrying the toxic payload enhance the solubility and decrease aggregation of ADCs with dense payloads. Within the presented work, generation of ADCs enabling high DAR by utilizing polypeptide based scaffolds was investigated, as these constructs offer the possibility of genetic fusion and enzyme-mediated conjugation with an antibody. Genetic fusion with the model antibody trastuzumab was achieved by using the hydrophilic PASylation pattern containing mTG-recognition motifs or intrinsically unstructured regions/polypeptides. These antibody fusions were characterized according to their binding characteristics, stability, and ability to serve as scaffolds for drug conjugation using microbial transglutaminase (mTG). mTG mediated labeling ensured site-specific modification and homogenous product formation. Therefore, nature-derived mTG-recognition motifs were investigated and an optimized sequence was found for the efficient conjugation of a cargo that may facilitate generation of high-payload ADCs in future. Notably, none of the producible antibody fusions showed significantly impaired target binding. However, poor mTG mediated conjugation and instability of the disordered sequences were observed for some trastuzumab fusions. Despite the fact that additives, like EDTA and sodium azide, were used to stabilize the PAS fusions, degradation was observed within several days. As disordered sequences are particularly susceptible to proteolytic degradation, a structured protein was fused to trastuzumab instead, resulting in a stable, though poorly mTG addressable, fusion protein that possessed similar binding characteristic compared to the parental antibody. As an alternative route for the generation of antibodies endowed with a polypeptide sequence that contains a defined number of anchor points for chemical conjugation of a cytotoxic payload, PAS derived constructs were generated via expression in E. coli and linked to the antibody produced in mammalian cell culture using sortase A (SrtA)-mediated conjugation. The conjugation product showed similar target binding characteristics as the wildtype protein. However, chemical modification of PAS-derived polypeptides as well as their purification and analysis remain challenging, thus optimization is mandatory for further applications. |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-87378 | ||||
Classification DDC: | 500 Science and mathematics > 540 Chemistry 500 Science and mathematics > 570 Life sciences, biology |
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Divisions: | 07 Department of Chemistry > Clemens-Schöpf-Institut > Fachgebiet Biochemie 07 Department of Chemistry > Clemens-Schöpf-Institut > Fachgebiet Biochemie > Allgemeine Biochemie |
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Date Deposited: | 16 Sep 2019 12:21 | ||||
Last Modified: | 09 Jul 2020 02:37 | ||||
URI: | https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/8737 | ||||
PPN: | 453893643 | ||||
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