scholarly journals PEG Linker Improves Antitumor Efficacy and Safety of Affibody-Based Drug Conjugates

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1540
Author(s):  
Qiyu Li ◽  
Wenjing Li ◽  
Keyuan Xu ◽  
Yutong Xing ◽  
Haobo Shi ◽  
...  

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) have become an important modality of clinical cancer treatment. However, traditional ADCs have some limitations, such as reduced permeability in solid tumors due to the high molecular weight of monoclonal antibodies, difficulty in preparation and heterogeneity of products due to the high drug/antibody ratio (4–8 small molecules per antibody). Miniaturized ADCs may be a potential solution, although their short circulation half-life may lead to new problems. In this study, we propose a novel design strategy for miniaturized ADCs in which drug molecules and small ligand proteins are site-specifically coupled via a bifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain. The results showed that the inserted PEG chains significantly prolonged the circulation half-life but also obviously reduced the cytotoxicity of the conjugates. Compared with the conjugate ZHER2-SMCC-MMAE (HM), which has no PEG insertion, ZHER2-PEG4K-MMAE (HP4KM) and ZHER2-PEG10K-MMAE (HP10KM) with 4 or 10 kDa PEG insertions have 2.5- and 11.2-fold half-life extensions and 4.5- and 22-fold in vitro cytotoxicity reductions, respectively. The combined effect leads to HP10KM having the most ideal tumor therapeutic ability at the same dosages in the animal model, and its off-target toxicity was also reduced by more than 4 times compared with that of HM. These results may indicate that prolonging the half-life is very helpful in improving the therapeutic capacity of miniaturized ADCs. In the future, the design of better strategies that can prolong half-life without affecting cytotoxicity may be useful for further improving the therapeutic potential of these molecules.

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1168
Author(s):  
Haozhong Ding ◽  
Mohamed Altai ◽  
Sara S. Rinne ◽  
Anzhelika Vorobyeva ◽  
Vladimir Tolmachev ◽  
...  

Affibody molecules are small affinity-engineered scaffold proteins which can be engineered to bind to desired targets. The therapeutic potential of using an affibody molecule targeting HER2, fused to an albumin-binding domain (ABD) and conjugated with the cytotoxic maytansine derivate MC-DM1 (AffiDC), has been validated. Biodistribution studies in mice revealed an elevated hepatic uptake of the AffiDC, but histopathological examination of livers showed no major signs of toxicity. However, previous clinical experience with antibody drug conjugates have revealed a moderate- to high-grade hepatotoxicity in treated patients, which merits efforts to also minimize hepatic uptake of the AffiDCs. In this study, the aim was to reduce the hepatic uptake of AffiDCs and optimize their in vivo targeting properties. We have investigated if incorporation of hydrophilic glutamate-based spacers adjacent to MC-DM1 in the AffiDC, (ZHER2:2891)2–ABD–MC-DM1, would counteract the hydrophobic nature of MC-DM1 and, hence, reduce hepatic uptake. Two new AffiDCs including either a triglutamate–spacer–, (ZHER2:2891)2–ABD–E3–MC-DM1, or a hexaglutamate–spacer–, (ZHER2:2891)2–ABD–E6–MC-DM1 next to the site of MC-DM1 conjugation were designed. We radiolabeled the hydrophilized AffiDCs and compared them, both in vitro and in vivo, with the previously investigated (ZHER2:2891)2–ABD–MC-DM1 drug conjugate containing no glutamate spacer. All three AffiDCs demonstrated specific binding to HER2 and comparable in vitro cytotoxicity. A comparative biodistribution study of the three radiolabeled AffiDCs showed that the addition of glutamates reduced drug accumulation in the liver while preserving the tumor uptake. These results confirmed the relation between DM1 hydrophobicity and liver accumulation. We believe that the drug development approach described here may also be useful for other affinity protein-based drug conjugates to further improve their in vivo properties and facilitate their clinical translatability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Patidar ◽  
Naveen Yadav ◽  
Sarat K. Dalai

IL-15 is one of the important biologics considered for vaccine adjuvant and treatment of cancer. However, a short half-life and poor bioavailability limit its therapeutic potential. Herein, we have structured IL-15 into a chimeric protein to improve its half-life enabling greater bioavailability for longer periods. We have covalently linked IL-15 with IgG2 base to make the IL-15 a stable chimeric protein, which also increased its serum half-life by 40 fold. The dimeric structure of this kind of IgG based biologics has greater stability, resistance to proteolytic cleavage, and less frequent dosing schedule with minimum dosage for achieving the desired response compared to that of their monomeric forms. The structured chimeric IL-15 naturally forms a dimer, and retains its affinity for binding to its receptor, IL-15Rβ. Moreover, with the focused action of the structured chimeric IL-15, antigen-presenting cells (APC) would transpresent chimeric IL-15 along with antigen to the T cell, that will help the generation of quantitatively and qualitatively better antigen-specific memory T cells. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate the biological activity of chimeric IL-15 with respect to its ability to induce IL-15 signaling and modulating CD8+ T cell response in favor of memory generation. Thus, a longer half-life, dimeric nature, and anticipated focused transpresentation by APCs to the T cells will make chimeric IL-15 a super-agonist for memory CD8+ T cell responses.


Author(s):  
Xin-Yue Hu ◽  
Lin-Lin Wang ◽  
Yue Sun ◽  
A-long Cui

Background: Rituximab represents a drug used for standard Non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma therapy; however, it displays limited clinical efficacy. Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) is one of the potential strategies to increase the antitumor activity of an antibody, with improved cytotoxicity directly resulting from the delivery of a molecular warhead. Currently, the warhead monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) has been widely applied in the study of ADCs, conjugated to a carbamate-based linker (MC-VC-PABC). However, the hydrophobic drug-linker (MC-VC-PABC-MMAE) may lead to ADC aggregation, ultimately resulting in decreased activity. Objective: In this study, we developed a hydrophilic drug-linker MC-VC-PABQ-AE linked to rituximab.. If the replacement of the tertiary amine in AE for a secondary amine in MMAE represents a characteristic modification, the change of antitumor activity of two corresponding anti-CD20 ADC is unknown, requiring further verification. Method: The structural elucidation of MC-VC-PAB-AE was displayed by high-resolution mass spectra. The average drug antibody ratio (DAR) of rituximab-VC-AE/MMAE ADCs was performed by HIC-HPLC. The cell cycle arrest analysis of two ADCs was detected by flow cytometry, and the antitumor activity of two ADCs was evaluated in vitro against Ramos and Daudi cells. Results: The average drug antibody ratio (DAR) of two ADCs was approximately 4.0. The activities of rituximab-VC-AE could be increased in CD20 positive B-lymphoma cell lines, most notably due to the higher cell viability inhibitory rates and apoptosis rates compared to rituximab-VC-MMAE. Conclusions: A hydrophilicity linker of ADC was developed and studied. Rituximab-VC-AE may potentially be used against CD20-positive cells, and the therapeutic efficacy and safety bring about further investigations.


Author(s):  
Manisha Singh ◽  
Surya Pratap Singh ◽  
Rachana R

Objective: This study is aimed to evaluate the antioxidant (AO) potential, cytotoxicity, and stability of preformulated Ginkgo biloba standard extractmicroemulsion (GBME), to investigate if, it retains the therapeutic potential of EGB761 and remains safe and stable for a longer period.Method and Results: GBME has shown enhanced AO (85.2±0.78%, IC50=31.3±0.45 μg/ml) in comparison to EGB761 (74.1±0.51%,IC50=49.4±0.05 μg/ml) using 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) assay. Similarly, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate(DPPH) assay has also shown that AO for GBME (94.6±0.04%, IC50=11.4±1.03 μg/ml) was higher than EGB761 (78.6±1.20%, IC50=34.6±0.81 μg/ml).Further, IC50 value of antiradical unit of GBME was much lesser (ABTS=14.3±1.05 μg/ml and DPPH=17.03±1.8 μg/ml) in comparison to EGB761(ABTS=34.1±1.62 μg/ml and DPPH=37.5±0.08 μg/ml). Equivalently, both, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, and nitric oxide activity wereappreciably higher for GBME than the pure extract. The in vitro cytotoxicity assessment showed that GBME is quite safe (98.68±0.76% cell viability) incomparison to EGB761 (83.29±1.02%). Thereafter, these samples were tested for stability by evaluating their AO activity along with high-performanceliquid chromatography analysis, for the major phytocompounds, after 1 year, and results suggested that AO of GBME remained stable while comparingwith the freshly prepared GBME, whereas AO of EGB761 reduced significantly as compared to freshly taken EGB761 extract implying the degradationof phytocompounds supporting decrease in AO activity.Conclusion: Therefore, the observed results suggest that GBME maintained AO and scavenging activity along with enhanced shelf life with no observedtoxicity, which can be explored further for its potential therapeutic implications in various oxidative stress-induced central nervous system disorders.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaa A. A. Aljabali ◽  
Hamid A. Bakshi ◽  
Faruck L. Hakkim ◽  
Yusuf A. Haggag ◽  
Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh ◽  
...  

Piceatannol (PIC) is known to have anticancer activity, which has been attributed to its ability to block the proliferation of cancer cells via suppression of the NF-kB signaling pathway. However, its effect on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is not well known in cancer. In this study, PIC was loaded into bovine serum albumin (BSA) by desolvation method as PIC–BSA nanoparticles (NPs). These PIC–BSA nanoparticles were assessed for in vitro cytotoxicity, migration, invasion, and colony formation studies and levels of p65 and HIF-1α. Our results indicate that PIC–BSA NPs were more effective in downregulating the expression of nuclear p65 and HIF-1α in colon cancer cells as compared to free PIC. We also observed a significant reduction in inflammation induced by chemical colitis in mice by PIC–BSA NPs. Furthermore, a significant reduction in tumor size and number of colon tumors was also observed in the murine model of colitis-associated colorectal cancer, when treated with PIC–BSA NPs as compared to free PIC. The overall results indicate that PIC, when formulated as PIC–BSA NPs, enhances its therapeutic potential. Our work could prompt further research in using natural anticancer agents as nanoparticels with possible human clinical trails. This could lead to the development of a new line of safe and effective therapeutics for cancer patients.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 986-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Bauer ◽  
Christian Lautenschlaeger ◽  
Kristian Kempe ◽  
Lutz Tauhardt ◽  
Ulrich S. Schubert ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulaziz Ali Alghamdi ◽  
Hussain Alattas ◽  
Waseem Sharaf Saeed ◽  
Abdel-Basit Al-Odayni ◽  
Ali Alrahlah ◽  
...  

In order to improve the cell adhesion on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds, poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (E-VAL) which has hydroxyl groups capable of developing hydrogen bonds with celling was blended with this polymer. To reach this goal, a series of E-VAL/PCL blends with different compositions were prepared by the solvent casting method. The miscibility of the polymer blend was proved by differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectrometry. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the polymer blends were assessed in their wet state by dynamic mechanical analysis. The surfaces wettability of blends and their components were examined through static contact angle measurements. The pore interconnections in the resulted scaffolds were achieved by the incorporation of naphthalene microparticles which were used as porogen and then removed in its gas state by sublimation under reduced pressure. The presence of pores interconnected inside the polymeric materials and their surface morphologies was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The in-vitro cytotoxicity and cell adhesion on the prepared materials were examined by an MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dobeen Hwang ◽  
Christoph Rader

The interest in replacing the conventional immunoglobulin G (IgG) format of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) with alternative antibody and antibody-like scaffolds reflects a need to expand their therapeutic utility and potency while retaining their exquisite specificity, affinity, and low intrinsic toxicity. For example, in the therapy of solid malignancies, the limited tumor tissue penetration and distribution of ADCs in IgG format mitigates a uniform distribution of the cytotoxic payload. Here, we report triple variable domain Fab (TVD–Fab) as a new format that affords the site-specific and stable generation of monovalent ADCs without the Fc domain and a drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) of 2. TVD–Fabs harbor three variable fragment (Fv) domains: one for tumor targeting and two for the fast, efficient, precise, and stable conjugation of two cargos via uniquely reactive lysine residues. The biochemical and in vitro cytotoxicity properties of a HER2-targeting TVD–Fab before and after conjugation to a tubulin inhibitor were validated. In vivo, the TVD–Fab antibody carrier revealed a circulatory half-life of 13.3 ± 2.5 h and deeper tumor tissue distribution compared to our previously reported dual variable domain (DVD)–IgG1 format. Taken together, the TVD–Fab format merits further investigations as an antibody carrier of site-specific ADCs targeting solid malignancies.


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