Bispecific antibodies against CEACAM5 and CD47
11555071 · 2023-01-17
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
C12N2015/8518
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K2317/41
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K16/2809
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K2317/732
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K2317/73
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K2317/76
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C07K2317/92
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
A61P35/00
HUMAN NECESSITIES
International classification
Abstract
The invention provides bispecific antibodies binding to human carcinoembryonic antigen CEACAM5 and human CD47, polynucleotides encoding such bispecific antibodies and vectors and host cells comprising such polynucleotides. The invention further provides methods for selecting and producing such antibodies and methods of using such antibodies in the treatment of diseases in monotherapy as well in combination.
Claims
1. A bispecific antibody comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD47, wherein a) the first binding part comprises a first heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO: 25, a CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO: 26 and a CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO: 27 and a first light chain variable region comprising a combination of CDRL1, CDRL2 and CDRL3 selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 31, 32 and 33; SEQ ID NOs: 34, 35, and 36; SEQ ID NOs: 37, 38, and 39; SEQ ID NOs: 40, 41, and 42; SEQ ID NOs: 43, 44, and 45; SEQ ID NOs: 46, 47, and 48; SEQ ID NOs: 49, 50, and 51; SEQ ID NOs: 52, 53, and 54; SEQ ID NOs: 55, 56, and 57; SEQ ID NOs: 58, 59, and 60; SEQ ID NOs: 61, 62, and 63; and SEQ ID NO: 112, 113, and 114; and b) the second binding part comprises a second heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO: 25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO: 26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO: 27 and a second light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO: 28, CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO: 29, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO: 30.
2. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein a) the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region (VH) of SEQ ID NO: 4 and a light chain variable region (VL) selected from the group of VLs included in the light chain sequences SEQ ID NOs: 64-74 and 115; and b) the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO: 4 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO: 10.
3. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the first binding part specific for CEACAM5 comprises a lambda light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and wherein the binding part specific for CD47 comprises a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain or wherein the first binding part specifically binding to CEACAM5 comprises a kappa light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and wherein the second binding part specifically binding to CD47 comprises a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain.
4. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein each binding part of the bispecific antibody comprises a common heavy chain (cHC).
5. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the EC50 for the phagocytosis index curve of MKN-45 cells of the bispecific antibody in the presence of human macrophages, as measured by imaging, with an E:T ratio of 1:3 human macrophages:target tumor cells, is not shifted by more than a factor of 4 towards higher concentrations in the presence of 200 ng/ml soluble CEACAM5 compared to the EC50 measured without soluble CEACAM5 and/or that the maximum of the phagocytosis index curve is not reduced by 20% or more by addition of 200 ng/mL CEACAM5.
6. The bispecific antibody of claim 5, wherein the EC50 for the binding curve to MKN-45 cells of the bispecific antibody is not shifted by more than a factor of 2 towards higher concentrations in the presence of 200 ng/ml soluble CEACAM5 compared to the EC50 measured without soluble CEACAM5.
7. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the antibody does not cross-react with human CEACAM1.
8. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the bispecific antibody binds to human CEACAM6 expressed on recombinant CHO cells CHO-K1 with an EC50 of 1 to 50 nM.
9. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the bispecific antibody inhibits the interaction between CD47 and signal-regulatory protein alpha (SIRPα; CD172a; UniProtKB P78324) on MKN-45 cells with an IC50 of 0.1 to 10 nM.
10. The bispecific antibody of claim 1, wherein the bispecific antibody has a Fc region that has been modified to have a reduced number of fucose residues in N-linked oligosaccharides as compared to the bispecific antibody that has not been modified.
11. The bispecific antibody of claim 10, wherein 50% to 100% of the N-linked oligosaccharides are nonfucosylated.
12. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a bispecific antibody of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient or carrier.
13. A method of treating a CEACAM5-expressing cancer, comprising administering the bispecific antibody of any of claims 1-11 to a patient in need thereof.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the EC50 of the phagocytosis index curve of the bispecific antibody in the presence of 1 mg/mL human IgG is in the range of 0.1 to 3 times the EC50 of reference antibody K2AC22 under the same experimental conditions.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the cancer is a colorectal cancer, NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, or another cancer comprising tumor cells that express CEACAM5.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the bispecific antibody is administered in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination with a second bispecific antibody comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD3F in the treatment of the patient having said CEACAM5-expressing cancer.
17. The method of claim 13, wherein the bispecific antibody is administered in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination with CEA-TCB and/or CEA-TCB1.
18. A method of inducing cell lysis of a CEACAM5-expressing tumor cell comprising contacting the tumor cell with the bispecific antibody of any of claims 1-11.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the tumor cell is in a patient.
20. A polynucleotide encoding the bispecific antibody of any of claims 1-11.
21. An expression vector comprising the polynucleotide of claim 20.
22. A host cell comprising the polynucleotide of claim 20 or the vector of claim 21.
23. A method for the production of a bispecific antibody, comprising: a) culturing a host cell comprising the expression vector of claim 21 under conditions which permit the production of the encoded bispecific antibody; and b) isolating the bispecific antibody.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(23) Terms are used herein as generally used in the art, unless otherwise defined as follows.
(24) As used herein, the term “antigen binding part, binding part” refers in its broadest sense to a part of an antibody that specifically binds an antigenic determinant such as CEA, CD47 and CD3.
(25) More specifically, as used herein, a binding part that binds membrane-bound human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA, same as CEACAM5) or to CD47 specifically binds to CEA or CD47, more particularly to cell surface or membrane-bound CEA or CD47. Therefore, each binding part binds either to CEA or CD47. By “specifically binding, specific for, binding to” is meant that the binding is selective for the antigen and can be discriminated from unwanted or nonspecific interactions. In some embodiments, the extent of binding of an anti-target antibody to an unrelated, non-target protein is about 10-fold preferably >100-fold less than the binding of the antibody to said target as measured, e.g., by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) e.g. Biacore®, enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) or flow cytometry (FACS). Targets are the proteins discussed herein—e.g. CEA, CD47, and CD3ε. In one embodiment the CEA binding part binds in addition to CEACAM6.
(26) “Specifically binding to CEA, CD47, binding to CEA, CD47, specific for CEA, CD47” refers in one embodiment to an antibody, e.g., bispecific antibody, that is capable of binding to the targets CEA and. CD47 with sufficient affinity such that the antibody is useful as a therapeutic agent in targeting tumor cells expressing CEA and CD47. The term “binding to MKN-45 cells with an EC50 value of refers to assay conditions whereby the bispecific antibody concentrations tested are between 0.1 and 1000 nM in the presence of anti-CD47 antibody B6H12.2 (ATCC® HB-9771™, also named B6H12 herein) in a concentration of 300 nM.
(27) In one embodiment the bispecific antibody according to the invention binds to cynomolgus CEACAM5 as well as human CEACAM5.
(28) As used herein, the term “antibody” refers to an antibody comprising two heavy chains and two light chains. In one embodiment the antibody is a full-length antibody. As used herein, the term “antibody heavy chain” refers to an antibody heavy chain, consisting of a variable region and a constant region as defined for a full-length antibody. As used herein, the term “antibody light chain” refers to an antibody light chain, consisting of a variable region and a constant region as defined for a full-length antibody.
(29) The term “full-length antibody” denotes an antibody consisting of two “full-length antibody heavy chains” and two “full-length antibody light chains” A “full-length antibody heavy chain” is a polypeptide consisting in N-terminal to C-terminal direction of an antibody heavy chain variable domain (VH), an antibody constant heavy chain domain 1 (CH1), an antibody hinge region (HR), an antibody heavy chain constant domain 2 (CH2), and an antibody heavy chain constant domain 3 (CH3), abbreviated as VH-CH1-HR-CH2-CH3. A “full-length antibody light chain” is a polypeptide consisting in N-terminal to C-terminal direction of an antibody light chain variable domain (VL), and an antibody light chain constant domain (CL), abbreviated as VL-CL. The antibody light chain constant domain (CL) can be κ (kappa) or λ (lambda). The two full-length antibody domains are linked together via inter-polypeptide disulphide bonds between the CL domain and the CH1 domain and between the hinge regions of the full-length antibody heavy chains. Examples of typical full-length antibodies are natural antibodies like IgG (e.g. IgG 1 and IgG2), IgM, IgA, IgD, and IgE. The full-length antibody according to the invention is in one embodiment of human IgG1 type, in one further embodiment comprising one or more amino acid substitutions in the Fc part as defined below and/or being glycoengineered at Asn297. The full-length antibody according to the invention comprise two binding parts each formed by a pair of VH and VL, one binding to CEA and the other binding to CD47.
(30) As used herein “Complementarity determining region(s)” (“CDR”) describe the non-contiguous antigen combining sites (also known as antigen binding regions) found within the variable region of both heavy and light chain polypeptides. CDRs are also referred to as “hypervariable regions” and that term is used interchangeably herein with the term “CDR” in reference to the portions of the variable region that form the antigen binding regions. This particular region has been described by Kabat et al., U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, “Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest” (1983) and by Chothia et al., J. Mol. Biol. 196:901-917 (1987), which are incorporated herein by reference, where the definitions include overlapping or subsets of amino acid residues when compared against each other. The definition of the FR-IMGT and CDR-IMGT regions of IG and TR is based on the “IMGT unique numbering for all IG and TR V-REGIONs of all species: interest for structure and evolution” (Lefranc, M.-P. et al., Dev. Comp. Immunol., 27, 55-77 (2003) and, for rearranged CDR3-IMGT and for FR4-IMGT, on the “IMGT unique numbering for V-DOMAIN and V-LIKE-DOMAIN” (Lefranc, M.-P. et al., Dev. Comp. Immunol., 27, 55-77 (2003)). Nevertheless, application of either definition to refer to a CDR of an antibody or variants thereof is intended to be within the scope of the term as defined and used herein. The appropriate amino acid residues which encompass the CDRs as defined by IMGT and Kabat are set forth below in the sequence list table. The exact residue numbers which encompass a particular CDR will vary depending on the sequence and size of the CDR. Those skilled in the art can routinely determine which residues comprise a particular CDR given the variable region amino acid sequence of the antibody. As used herein the term “comprising a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:x” refers to that the CDRL1 part of the referred variable light chain is of SEQ ID NO:x (comprising as CDRL1 a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:x). This is true also for the other CDRs.
(31) As used herein, the term “Fc region; Fc domain” refers to a C-terminal region of an IgG heavy chain; in case of an IgG1 antibody, the C-terminal region comprises —CH2-CH3 (see above). Although the boundaries of the Fc region of an IgG heavy chain might vary slightly, the human IgG heavy chain Fc region is usually defined to stretch from the amino acid residue at position Cys226 to the carboxyl-terminus.
(32) Constant regions are well known in the state of the art and e.g. described by Kabat, E. A., (see e.g. Johnson, G., and Wu, T. T., Nucleic Acids Res. 28 (2000) 214-218; Kabat. E. A., et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72 (1975) 2785-2788).
(33) The term “epitope” includes any polypeptide determinant capable of specific binding to an antibody. In certain embodiments, “epitope” includes chemically active surface groupings of molecules such as amino acids, sugar side chains, phosphoryl, or sulfonyl, and, in certain embodiments, may have specific three dimensional structural characteristics, and or specific charge characteristics. An epitope is a region of a target that is bound by an antibody. In one embodiment the bispecific antibody of the invention binds to the N-terminal domain of CEACAM5 (Ig-like V-type domain of amino acids 35-144, UniProtKB—P06731). Binding location of the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies to CEACAM5 is achieved via epitope binning. In epitope binning, antibodies are tested in a pairwise combinatorial manner, and antibodies that compete for the same binding region are grouped together into bins. Competition testing is performed herein with anti-CEA antibodies according to the state of the art and as described herein. In one embodiment the bispecific antibody of the invention competes for binding to CEACAM5 with reference antibody SM3E (bin 1). In one embodiment the bispecific antibody of the invention does not compete for binding to CEACAM5 with reference antibodies SM3E, MEDI, T84.66, SAR, Lab, and CH1A1A (bin 2). Competition is measured by an assay wherein biotinylated human CEACAM5 in a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml is immobilized and incubated with 10 μg/ml of the reference. CEACAM5 antibodies comprising the CEACAM5 binding part of the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibody of the present invention are added at 0.2 μg/ml for 1 hour at room temperature. The plate is washed and the bound CEACAM5 mAbs are detected.
(34) In one embodiment the bispecific antibody of the invention binds to the B3 domain and the GPI anchor of CEACAM5. In one embodiment of the invention the antibody of the invention binds to the same epitope as an anti-CEA antibody (MAB CEA), which comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:20 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:21.
(35) As used herein, the term “a common heavy chain (cHC)” refers to a polypeptide consisting in N-terminal to C-terminal direction of an antibody heavy chain variable domain (VH), an antibody constant heavy chain domain 1 (CH1), an antibody hinge region (HR), an antibody heavy chain constant domain 2 (CH2), and an antibody heavy chain constant domain 3 (CH3), abbreviated as VH-CH1-HR-CH2-CH3. Common heavy chains suitable for the bispecific antibodies according to the invention are heavy chains of an anti-CD47 antibody as described in WO2012023053, WO2013088259, WO2014087248, and WO2016156537 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). In one embodiment the cHC of the bispecific antibody according to the invention comprises as light chain CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:1, a CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO:2, and a CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:3, and as heavy chain CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, a CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and a CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27. In one embodiment the cHC of the bispecific antibody according to the invention comprises as heavy chain variable region VH a VH region of SEQ ID NO:4. In one embodiment the cHC of the bispecific antibody according to the invention is of SEQ ID NO:5.
(36) In one embodiment the antibody according to the invention is a κλ bispecific antibody comprising a cHC (κλ Body).
(37) “The κλ Body format allows the affinity purification of bispecific antibodies which are undistinguishable from a standard IgG molecule and with characteristics that are undistinguishable from a standard monoclonal antibody (see e.g. WO2013088259, WO2012023053), promising no or low immunogenicity potential in patients.
(38) Bispecific antibodies of the invention, comprising a common heavy chain, can be made for example according to WO2012023053 (incorporated by reference in its entirety). The methods described in WO2012023053 generate bispecific antibodies that are identical in structure to a human immunoglobulin. This type of molecule is composed of two copies of a unique heavy chain polypeptide, a first light chain variable region fused to a constant Kappa domain and second light chain variable region fused to a constant Lambda domain. One binding site displays specificity to CEA and the other site displays specificity to CD47, wherein to each the heavy and the respective light chain contribute. The light chain variable regions can be of the Lambda or Kappa family and are preferably fused to a Lambda and Kappa constant domains, respectively. This is preferred in order to avoid the generation of non-natural polypeptide junctions. However, it is also possible to obtain bispecific antibodies of the invention by fusing a Kappa light chain variable domain to a constant Lambda domain for a first specificity or fusing a Lambda light chain variable domain to a constant Kappa domain for the second specificity. The other light chain is then always fully kappa (VL and CL) or fully lambda). The bispecific antibodies described in WO 2012023053 are “κλ Bodies”. This κλ-Body format allows the affinity purification of a bispecific antibody that is undistinguishable from a standard IgG molecule with characteristics that are undistinguishable from a standard monoclonal antibody and, therefore, favourable as compared to previous formats including e.g. amino acid bridges or other unnatural elements.
(39) An essential step of the method is the identification of two antibody Fv regions (each composed by a variable light domain and variable heavy domain) having different antigen specificities that share the same heavy chain variable domain. Numerous methods have been described for the generation of monoclonal antibodies and fragments thereof. (see, e.g., Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual, Harlow E, and Lane D, 1988, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.). Fully human antibodies are antibody molecules in which the sequence of both the light chain and the heavy chain, including the CDRs 1 and 2, arise from human genes. The CDR3 region can be of human origin or designed by synthetic means. Such antibodies are termed “human antibodies”, or “fully human antibodies”. Human monoclonal antibodies can be prepared by using the trioma technique; the human B-cell hybridoma technique (see Kozbor, et al., 1983 Immunol Today 4: 72); and the EBV hybridoma technique to produce human monoclonal antibodies (see Cole, et al., 1985 In: Monoclonal Antibodies and Cancer Therapy, Alan R. Liss, Inc., pp. 77-96). Human monoclonal antibodies may be utilized and may be produced by using human hybridomas (see Cote, et al., 1983. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80: 2026-2030) or by transforming human B-cells with Epstein Barr Virus in vitro (see Cole, et al., supra). As used herein, the term “CEA, CEACAM5” refers to human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA, CEACAM-5 or CD66e; UniProtKB—P06731) which is a cell surface glycoprotein and a tumor-associated antigen (Gold and Freedman, J Exp. Med., 121:439-462, 1965; Berinstein N L, J Clin Oncol., 20:2197-2207, 2002). As used herein, the term “CEACAM6” refers to human CEACAM6 (CD66c; UniProtKB—P40199), which is also a member of the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule (CEACAM) family. As used herein, the term “CEACAM1” refers to human CEACAM1 (UniProtKB—P13688 (CEAM1_HUMAN) which is also a member of the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule (CEACAM) family.
(40) As used herein, the term “MAB CEA” refers to a monoclonal antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:20 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:21. As used herein, the term “MAB CEA1” refers to a monoclonal antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:88 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:89. In one embodiment the bispecific antibody according to the invention is competitive with MAB CEA, MAB CEA1, CEA-TCB, or CEA-TCB1; in a further embodiment the bispecific antibody according to the invention is not competitive with MAB CEA, MAB CEA1, CEA-TCB, or CEA-TCB1. MAB CEA and said variable chains are described in US20140242079 (SEQ ID NO:21 and 27 of US20140242079 (incorporated by reference in its entirety)). A bispecific anti-CEA×anti-CD3c antibody (CEA-TCB) comprising the VH and VL of MAB CEA is described in Bacac et al Clin. Cancer Res., 22(13), 3286-97 (2016)). A further bispecific CEA×CD3 Mab comprising the VH and VL of MAB CEA1 (CEA-TCB1) is described in WO2017055389 as molecule B “2+1 IgG CrossFab, inverted” with charge modifications (VH/VL exchange in CD3 binder, charge modification in CEA binder, humanized CEA binder) (see
(41) “As used herein, the terms “specifically binding to CD47, binding to CD47, CD47 binding part” refer in the context of the bispecific antibodies according to the invention to specificity for CD47. CD47 is a multi-pass membrane protein and comprises three extracellular domains (amino acids 19-141, 198-207, and 257-268; see UniProtKB—Q08722). As used herein the term “binding affinity to CD47” is measured by SPR.
(42) In one embodiment binding of the bispecific antibody according to the invention to CD47 occurs via one or more of said extracellular domains. In one embodiment, the bispecific antibodies according to the invention inhibit the interaction between human CD47 and human SIRPα.
(43) As used herein, the terms “specifically binding to CEA, binding to CEA, CEA binding part” refer in the context of the bispecific antibodies according to the invention to specificity for CEACAM5 on the surface of a cell. Binding to CEA (CEACAM5) on cells is preferably measured with gastric adenocarcinoma MKN-45 cells comprising 200.000 to 600.000 CEA copies per cell. The concentration of the antibody according to the invention is varied in an appropriate range in regard to a resulting EC50 value for binding to MKN-45 cells as defined above. The bispecific antibodies according to the invention are specifically binding to such cell membrane-bound CEACAM5 and do not or only minimally bind in a further embodiment to soluble CEACAM5, in concentrations like found in the blood/plasma of patients, i.e. soluble CEA in such concentrations, does not or only minimally influence the efficacy of a bispecific antibody of the invention. This is measured by influence of soluble CEA on the phagocytosis of MIKN-45 cells by the bispecific antibodies of this invention as described.
(44) As used herein, the term “membrane-bound human CEA” refers to human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) that is bound to a membrane-portion of a cell or to the surface of a cell, in particular, the surface of a tumor cell. The term “membrane-bound human CEA” may, in certain circumstances, refer to CEA which is not bound to the membrane of a cell, but which has been constructed so as to preserve the membrane bound CEA epitope to which the antibody according to the invention binds.
(45) As used herein, the term “no substantial cross-reactivity against soluble CEACAM5, non-binding to soluble CEACAM5” refer in the context of the bispecific antibodies according to the invention that such antibodies do not show relevant binding to soluble CEACAM5, particularly when compared to membrane-bound CEACAM5. Such non-binding can be indirectly determined by low influence of the soluble CEA on the phagocytosis activity of the bispecific antibody in a phagocytosis assay with MKN-45 cells as described below, preferably imaging based measurement of phagocytosis index, see Example 9). No substantial cross-reactivity against soluble CEACAM5 means therefore that the maximum achievable phagocytosis index (typical concentration-phagocytosis index curves of the bispecific antibody CEA×CD47 and maximal achievable phagocytosis index are shown e.g. in
(46) The term “soluble CEA, shed CEA, sCEA” refers to CEACAM5 that is not bound to or is cleaved from a cell membrane or cell surface (e.g., a tumor cell surface). Soluble CEA can, for example, be found in the blood stream of a subject with cancer. When CEA is shed from the cell membrane, it is assumed that the GPI anchor is disrupted, and CEACAM5 undergoes a conformational change that can prevent or at least weaken the binding of soluble CEA to the antibody according to the invention.
(47) As used herein, the terms “cross-reactivity against CEACAM6, specifically binding to CEACAM6, binding to CEACAM6, CEACAM6 binding part” refer in the context of the bispecific antibodies according to the invention that the bispecific antibody according to the invention recognizes specifically CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 on the surface (membrane) of a cell. In one embodiment the bispecific antibodies according to the invention are specifically binding to membrane-bound CEACAM6, when compared to binding to membrane-bound CEA. The ratio of the occupancy of CEACAM5 to CEACAM6 receptors on a cell surface by a given bispecific antibody of the invention is dependent on the binding affinities to CEACAM5 respectively CEACAM6 and can be easily calculated if these binding affinities have been measured, e.g. by SPR.
(48) In certain embodiments, an antibody that specifically binds to CEACAM5 does not bind to carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion proteins such as, CEACAM1, CEACAM3, CEACAM4, CEACAM6, CEACAM7 and CEACAM8. In certain embodiments, an antibody that specifically binds to CEACAM5 also binds to CEACAM6 at similar EC50.
(49) As used herein, the terms “no substantial cross-reactivity against CEACAM1 and/or CEACAM3, CEACAM4, CEACAM6, CEACAM7 and CEACAM8, non-binding to said CEACAM” refer in the context of the bispecific antibodies according to the invention that such antibodies do not show any relevant binding to said membrane-bound CEACAM at therapeutic plasma concentrations (1 to 1000 nM), when compared to membrane-bound CEACAM5. Non-binding to CEACAM1 and/or CEACAM5, CEACAM6 and CEACAM8 can be determined by flow cytometry based measurement of the binding curve to recombinant CHO cells expressing said CEACAM and to CEACAM3 and/or CEACAM4, and CEACAM7 by measurement of the binding curve to recombinant PEAK cells expressing said CEACAM or by an ELISA assay measuring the binding to the recombinant CEACAM proteins. As used herein, the terms “does not bind, no binding to” a compound mentioned herein (e.g. human IgG), refer also to such non-relevant binding or non crossreactivity. E.g. in an ELISA, OD values for such unrelated compounds will be about equal to that of the limit of detection.
(50) As used herein, the term “bispecific antibody binding to human CEA and human CD3, CEA×CD3 Mab” means a bispecific antibody binding to human CEACAM5 and CD3ε. Such antibodies are for example “CEA-TCB” and “CEA-TCB1”. As used herein “CEA-TCB” refers to a bispecific antibody binding to CEA and CD3 as described in US20140242079 (incorporated by reference in its entirety) as SEQ ID NO:1, 2, 21, and 22. The amino acid sequences of CEA-TCB are also described as SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 of the present invention. As used herein “CEA-TCB1” refers to molecule B in the “2+1 IgG CrossFab, inverted” format with charge modifications (VH/VL exchange in CD3 binder, charge modification in CEA binder, humanized CEA binder):
(51) As used herein “CD3 Mab, antibody against CD3” refers to human CD3ε(UniProtKB—P07766 (CD3E_HUMAN). The term “antibody against CD3ε, anti CD3ε antibody” relates to an antibody specifically binding to CD3ε. In one embodiment, the antibody against CD3ε is specifically binding to the same epitope as anti-CD3 antibody SP34 (BD Biosciences Catalog No. 565983). In one embodiment, the antibody against CD3ε is specifically binding to an epitope of human CD3ε, comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:22. In one embodiment, the antibody against CD3ε is specifically binding to human CD3ε and comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:90 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:91.
(52) In one embodiment the bispecific antibody of the invention does not compete with CEA-TCB and/or CEA-TCB1 for binding on CEA as presented on MKN-45 cells. Therefore CEA-TCB in a concentration of 300 nM (CEA-TCB) or 30 nM (CEA-TCB1) do not shift the EC50 of the phagocytosis index curve of said the bispecific antibody of the invention for MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations.
(53) 300 nM are a concentration measured in patient plasma at therapeutically effective doses of CEA-TCB ((J. Tabernero et. al., J. Clin. Oncol. 35, 2017 (suppl. Abstr. 3002)). CEA-TCB1 is in preclinical investigations approx. 10 to 100 times more potent than CEA-TCB (binding affinity, tumor cell lysis, WO2017055389), therefore the shift of the EC50 is tested at 30 nM.
(54) Competition in binding can be determined by flow cytometry based measurement of the binding curve to MKN-45 cells and determination of the EC50 of this binding curve (see e.g.
(55) Competition in binding can be determined by flow cytometry based measurement of the binding curve to MKN-45 cells and determination of the EC50 of this binding curve (see
(56) Non-competition by MAB CEA1 or CEA-TCB1 means that EC50 is changed by less than a factor of 3 if 30 nM of MAB CEA1 respectively CEA-TCB1 are added to the assay.
(57) As used herein, the term “noncompetitive” means that a second antibody (MAB CEA, MAB CEA1 or a bispecific antibody against CEA×CD3ε, like CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1) in a concentration of 300 nM (MAB-CEA, CEA-TCB) or 30 nM (MAB CEA1, CEA-TCB1) does not shift the EC50 of the binding curve of the bispecific antibody of the invention to MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations. As used herein, the term “competitive” means that a second antibody (MAB CEA, MAB CEA1 or bispecific antibody against CEA×CD3ε, like CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1) in a concentration of 300 nM respectively 30 nM (MAB CEA1 or CEA-TCB1) shifts the EC50 of the binding curve of the bispecific antibody of the invention to MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, preferably by more than a factor of 5 towards higher concentrations.
(58) As used herein the term “complementarity determining region” (“CDR”) describes the non-contiguous antigen combining sites (also known as antigen binding regions) found within the variable region of both heavy and light chain polypeptides. CDRs are also referred to as “hypervariable regions” and that term is used interchangeably herein with the term “CDR” in reference to the portions of the variable region that form the antigen binding regions. This particular region has been described by Kabat et al., U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, “Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest” (1983) and by Chothia et al., J. Mol. Biol. 196:901-917 (1987). Kabat et al. also defined a numbering system for variable domain sequences that is applicable to any antibody. One of ordinary skill in the art can unambiguously assign this system of “Kabat numbering” to any variable domain sequence, without reliance on any experimental data beyond the sequence itself. As used herein, “Kabat numbering” refers to the numbering system set forth by Kabat et al., U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, “Sequence of Proteins of Immunological Interest” (1983). Unless otherwise specified, references to the numbering of specific amino acid residue positions in bispecific antibody according to the invention are according to the Kabat numbering system.
(59) As used herein the term “ADCP” refers to antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis.
(60) As used herein “phagocytosis, EC50 value of phagocytosis, maximum of phagocytosis, phagocytosis index” according to the invention refer to phagocytosis measured with MKN-45 cells by “imaging”. An appropriate imaging method, with incubation at an effector (macrophages):target (tumor) cell ratio of e.g. 1:1 or 1:3 and with the “phagocytosis index” as readout (Imaging determined ADCP”) is described in Example 9.
(61) For further information on phagocytosis in the field, phagocytosis can also be measured by a flow cytometry based method as % phagocytosis (see Example 9 and
(62) The terms “human IgG, hIgG” refers to a commercially available clinical-grade homogeneous preparation of human immunoglobulin IgG that does not bind specifically to CD47 and CEACAM5.
(63) Antibodies produced in CHO cells typically have complex biantennary structures with very low or no bisecting-N-acetylglucosamine (bisecting GlcNAc) and high levels of core fucosylation. Overexpression of N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III has been used to increase the fraction of bisecting GlcNAc that resides on antibodies to improve antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). RNAi and gene deletion technologies have also been used to decrease or eliminate the fucose on antibodies to dramatically increase ADCC activity (Davis J. et al.; Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2001; 74:288-294; Saba J A, et al.; Anal. Biochem. 2002; 305:16-31; Kanda Y, et al.; J. Biotechnol. 2007; 130:300-310; Mori K, et al.; Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2004; 88:901-908).
(64) In one embodiment, the bispecific antibody according to the invention is glycoengineered. In one embodiment the glycoengineered bispecific antibody according to the invention has increased ADCC and/or ADCP activity (decreased EC50 and/or higher maximum of phagocytosis index) compared to the bispecific antibody comprising an Fc part included in SEQ ID NO:5 (parent antibody), comprising glycosylation according to a production in a CHO K1 cell line (ATCC® CCL-61™) at standard conditions (1000 ml vessel, temperature 37° C., pH 7.0, impeller speed 80 rpm, minimum dissolved oxygen 30%; cultivation time 14 days).
(65) In a more particular embodiment, the increase in ADCC (decrease of EC50 and/or increase of maximum) is by a factor of 1.2 to 2.0 or even at least 2.0 as compared to said parent antibody see e.g.
(66) In a more particular embodiment, the increase in ADCP (decrease of EC50 of the phagocytosis index curve) is by a factor of at least 3 or even 5 or more as compared to said parent antibody (see e.g.
(67) As used herein, the term “polypeptide having GnTIII activity, GnTIII” refers to polypeptides that are able to catalyze the addition of a N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residue in β-1-4 linkage to the β-linked mannoside of the trimannosyl core of N-linked oligosaccharides, eg. ß-1,4-mannosyl-glycoprotein4-ß-N-acetylglucosaminyl-transferase (EC 2.4.1.144).
(68) As used herein the term “FUT8” refers to α1,6-fucosyltransferase (EC:2.4.1.68).
(69) As used herein, the term “effector function, Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity” refers to those biological activities attributable to the Fc region (a native sequence Fc region or amino acid sequence variant Fc region) of an antibody. Examples of antibody effector functions include, but are not limited to, Fc receptor binding affinity, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), cytokine secretion, immune-complex-mediated antigen uptake by antigen-presenting cells, down-regulation of cell surface receptors, etc. Such immune mechanism is leading to the lysis of “targeted cells” by “human immune effector cells.”
(70) As used herein, the term “glycoengineered antibody” refers to a bispecific antibody according to the invention which comprises a reduced amount of fucosylated and/or bisecting oligosaccharides attached to the Fc region of said antibody, usually at amino acid Asn297, compared to a parent antibody.
(71) As used herein, the term “parent antibody, parent bispecific antibody” in the context of glycoengineering refers to a bispecific antibody according to the invention which comprises the same amino acid composition as the glycoengineered antibody but is non-glycoengineered. For such comparison the parent antibody and the glycoengineered antibody are produced in the same host cell, but in the first case in the host cell without glycoengineering, and in the second case in the same host cell but engineered by targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene or engineered by expressing a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having GnTIII activity under standard conditions (see above).
(72) As used herein, the term “human immune effector cells” refers to a population of leukocytes that display Fc receptors on their surfaces, through which they bind to the Fc-region of antigen binding molecules or of Fc-fusion proteins and perform effector functions. Such a population may include, but is not limited to, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and/or natural killer (NK) cells and/or macrophages.
(73) As used herein, the term “increased Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity” is defined as either an increase in the number of “targeted cells” that are lysed in a given time, at a given concentration of the bispecific antibody of the invention in the medium surrounding the target cells, by the mechanism of Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity defined above, and/or a reduction in the concentration of the bispecific antibody of the invention, in the medium surrounding the target cells, required to achieve the lysis of a given number of “targeted cells” in a given time, by the mechanism of Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity. The increase in Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity is relative to the cellular cytotoxicity mediated by the same bispecific antibody of the invention produced by the same type of host cells, using the same standard conditions, but that has not been produced by host cells engineered to have an altered pattern of glycosylation (e.g., to express the glycosyltransferase, GnTIII, or other glycosyltransferases or FUT8 disruption) by the methods described herein.
(74) As used herein the term “expression vector” refers to one or more vectors which comprise the heavy and light chains of the antibody according to the invention in an appropriate manner as known from the state of the art.
(75) As used herein “host cells engineered by targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene” refers to host cells capable of expressing an antibody according to the invention and being in addition glycoengineered by targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene as described e.g. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,067,232; 7,425,446, 6,946,292 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety), and Yamane-Ohnuki N. et al., Biotech. Bioeng.; 87 (2004) 614-622. An antibody according to the invention expressed in such host cell comprises a Fc region comprising complex N-glycoside-linked sugar chains bound to the Fc region, which comprise a reducing end which contains an N-acetylglucosamine, wherein the sugar chains do not contain fucose bound to the 6 position of N-acetylglucosamine in the reducing end of the sugar chains.
(76) The present invention is further directed to a method for the production of a bispecific antibody according to the present invention characterized in comprising nonfucosylation of 50% to 100%, 60% to 100%, 70% to 100%, 80% to 100%, or 90% to 100%, that are produced by a host cell, comprising expressing in said host cell a nucleic acid encoding a bispecific antibody of the invention and a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide with a glycosyltransferase activity, or a vector comprising such nucleic acids. Genes with glycosyltransferase activity include (1,4)-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III (GnTIII), a-mannosidase II (Man11), (1,4)-galactosyltransferase (GalT), (1,2)-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnTI), and β(1,2)-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II (GnTII). In one embodiment, a combination of genes with glycosyltransferase activity is expressed in the host cell (e.g., GnTIII and Man II). Likewise, the method also encompasses expression of one or more polynucleotide(s) encoding the bispecific antibody in a host cell in which a glycosyltransferase gene has been disrupted or otherwise deactivated (e.g., a host cell in which the activity of the gene encoding al-6 core fucosyltransferase has been knocked out). In another embodiment, the bispecific antibodies of the present invention can be produced in a host cell that further expresses a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having GnTIII activity to modify the glycosylation pattern. In a specific embodiment, the polypeptide having GnTIII activity is a fusion polypeptide comprising the Golgi localization domain of a Golgi resident polypeptide. In another preferred embodiment, the expression of the bispecific antibodies of the present invention in a host cell that expresses a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having GnTIII activity results in bispecific antibodies with increased Fc receptor binding affinity and increased effector function.
(77) The present invention is further directed to a method for the production of a bispecific antibody according to the present invention characterized in comprising non-fucosylation of 50% to 100%, 60% to 100%, 70% to 100%, 80% to 100%, or 90% to 100%, that are produced by a host cell, comprising expressing in said host cell a nucleic acid encoding a bispecific antibody of the invention and a disrupted FUT8 gene.
(78) In one embodiment the bispecific antibodies with altered glycosylation produced by the host cells of the invention exhibit increased Fc receptor binding affinity and/or increased effector function as a result of the modification of the host cell (e.g., by expression of a glycosyltransferase gene).
(79) Preferably, the increased Fc receptor binding affinity is increased binding to a Fcγ activating receptor, such as the FcγRIIIa receptor.
(80) In one embodiment, the percentage of nonfucosylated oligosaccharides is 50% to 100%, specifically 60% to 100%, 70% to 100%, and more specifically, 80% to 100%. The nonfucosylated oligosaccharides may be of the hybrid or complex type. In yet another embodiment, the bispecific antibody produced by the methods of the invention has an increased proportion of bisected oligosaccharides in the Fc region as a result of the modification of its oligosaccharides by the methods of the present invention. In one embodiment, the percentage of bisected oligosaccharides is 50% to 100%, specifically 50%, 60% to 70%, and more specifically, 80%. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the bispecific antibody produced by the host cells and methods of the invention has an increased proportion of bisected, nonfucosylated oligosaccharides in the Fc region. The bisected, nonfucosylated oligosaccharides may be either hybrid or complex.
(81) As used herein, the term “host cell” covers any kind of cellular system which can be engineered to generate the bispecific antibodies of the present invention. In one embodiment, the host cell is engineered to allow the production of an antigen binding molecule with modified glycoforms. In certain embodiments, the host cells have been further manipulated to express increased levels of one or more polypeptides having GnTIII activity. Host cells include cultured cells, e.g., mammalian cultured cells, such as CHO cells (see above), BHK cells, NSO cells, SP2/0 cells, YO myeloma cells, P3X63 mouse myeloma cells, PER cells, PER.C6 cells or hybridoma cells, yeast cells, insect cells, and plant cells, to name only a few, but also cells comprised within a transgenic animal, transgenic plant or cultured plant or animal tissue. Host cells for the production of glycoengineered bispecific antibodies of the present invention have been described e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,684, US20040241817, US20030175884; and WO 2004065540. The bispecific antibodies of the present invention can alternatively be glycoengineered to have reduced fucose residues in the Fc region according to the techniques disclosed in US2003/0157108, EP1176195, WO2003084570, WO2003085119 and US2003/0115614, US2004/093621, US2004/110282, US2004/110704, US2004/132140 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Glycoengineered bispecific antibodies of the invention may also be produced in expression systems that produce modified glycoproteins, such as those described in WO2003/056914, WO2004/057002, and WO2004/024927 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
(82) In a further embodiment of the invention the antibody according to the invention comprises one or two or three amino acid substitutions in the Fc region (“Fc amino acid substitution”) selected from the group consisting of mono-substitutions S239D, I332E, G236A, of bi-substitutions I332E and G236A, S239D and I332E (“DE substitution”), S239D and G236A, and triple-substitution S329D and I332E and G236A (“DEA substitution”); (Richards J O, et al., Mol. Cancer Ther. 7 (2008) 2517-2527). Due to different counting of a heavy chain, these amino acid numbers can be different for +/−one, two or three amino acids, but with the same shift for all three. In case of the heavy chain of SEQ ID NO:5 there is a one amino acid shift and S329D and I332E and G236A therefore denotes S328D and I331E and G235A. SEQ ID: NO:5 with DE substitution is shown in SEQ ID NO:23 and SEQ ID: NO:5 with DEA substitution is shown in SEQ ID NO:24. ADCC and/or ADCP activity of the bispecific antibody can be increased by such amino acid modification of the Fc part.
(83) As used herein, the term “parent antibody, parent bispecific antibody” in the context of Fc substitution refers to a bispecific antibody according to the invention which comprises the same amino acid composition as the Fc substituted antibody, but without said substitution(s). For such comparison the parent antibody and the Fc substituted antibody are produced—as in the case of glycoengineered antibodies—in the same host cell under the same conditions, but in the first case in the host cell without Fc substitution, and in the second case in the same host cell but with such Fc substitution(s). A useful host cell line is e.g. CHO-K1.
(84) As used herein, the term “parent antibody, parent bispecific antibody” in the context of a bispecific antibody according to the invention which comprises Fc substitution and is glycoengineered, such parent antibody therefore is the respective bispecific antibody which comprises the same amino acid composition as the Fc substituted antibody, but without said substitution(s) and is not glycoengineered.
(85) In a further embodiment of the invention ADCC and/or ADCP activity of the bispecific antibody is increased by amino acid substitution of the Fc part in combination with glycoengineering of the Fc part compared ADCC and/or ADCP activity of the respective parent antibody.
(86) The invention comprises therefore in one embodiment a bispecific antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and human CD47, characterized in comprising one or two or three amino acid substitutions in the Fc region (“Fc amino acid substitution”) selected from the group consisting of mono-substitutions S239D, I332E, G236A, of bi-substitutions I332E and G236A, S239D and I332E, of triple-substitutions S329D and I332E and G236A and comprising non-fucosylation of the Fc part of 50% to 100%, 60% to 100%, 70% to 100%, 80% to 100%, or 90% to 100%.
(87) Example 9 describes assays used for the determination of ADCC activity and also of ADCP activity ADCC can be measured by an in vitro ADCC assay as follows:
(88) 1) the assay uses target cells that are known to express CEA recognized by the CEA-binding region of the bispecific antibody;
(89) 2) the assay uses human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), isolated from blood of a randomly chosen healthy donor, as effector cells;
(90) 3) the assay is carried out according to following protocol: i) the PBMCs are isolated using standard density centrifugation procedures and are suspended at 6.25×10.sup.6 cells/ml in RPMI cell culture medium;
(91) ii) the target cells are grown by standard tissue culture methods, harvested from the exponential growth phase with a viability higher than 90%, washed in RPMI cell culture medium, labelled with 100 micro-Curies of 51Cr for 1×10.sup.6 cells, washed twice with cell culture medium, and resuspended in cell culture medium at a density of 0.25×10.sup.6 cells/ml;
iii) 20 microliters of the final target cell suspension above are transferred to each well of a 96-well microtiter plate;
iv) the bispecific antibody is serially-diluted from 4000 ng/ml to 0.12 ng/ml in cell culture medium and microliters of the resulting antibody solutions are added to the target cells in the 96-well microtiter plate, testing in triplicate various antibody concentrations covering the whole concentration range above;
v) for the maximum release (MR) controls, 3 additional wells in the plate containing the labelled target cells, receive 50 microliters of a 5% (VN) aqueous solution of non-ionic detergent (Triton™, Sigma, St. Louis), instead of the bispecific antibody solution (point iv above);
vi) for the spontaneous release (SR) controls, 3 additional wells in the plate containing the labelled target cells, receive 20 microliters of RPMI cell culture medium instead of the bispecific antibody solution (point iv above);
vii) the 96-well microtiter plate is then centrifuged at 50×g for 1 minute and incubated for 1 hour at 4° C.;
viii) 40 microliters of the PBMC suspension (point i above) are added to each well to yield an effector:target (E:T) cell ratio of 50:1 and the plates are placed in an incubator under 5% CO.sub.2 atmosphere at 37° C. for 4 hours;
ix) the cell-free supernatant from each well is harvested and the experimentally released radioactivity (ER) is quantified using a gamma counter;
x) the percentage of specific lysis is calculated for each bispecific antibody concentration according to the formula (ER-MR)/(MR-SR)×100, where ER is the average radioactivity quantified (see point ix above) for that antibody concentration, MR is the average radioactivity quantified (see point ix above) for the MR controls (see point v above), and SR is the average radioactivity quantified (see point ix above) for the SR controls (see point vi above);
(92) As used herein “increased ADCC” is defined as either an increase in the maximum percentage of specific lysis observed within the bispecific antibody concentration range tested above, and/or a reduction in the concentration of bispecific antibody required to achieve one half of the maximum percentage of specific lysis (EC50) observed within the bispecific antibody concentration range tested above. The increase in ADCC is relative to the ADCC, measured with the above assay, mediated by the same bispecific antibody, produced by the same type of host cells, using the same standard production, purification, formulation and storage methods, but that has not been produced by host cells engineered to overexpress GnTIII or by host cells engineered by targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene (“parent antibody”). In case of amino acid substitutions in the Fc, the increase in ADCC is relative to the ADCC measured with the parent bispecific antibody not carrying the substitution(s). In case of a bispecific antibody comprising amino acid substitutions in the Fc part and being glycoengineered, the increase in ADCC is relative to the ADCC measured with the parent non glycoengineered, bispecific antibody not carrying the substitution(s).
(93) Therapeutic Applications and Methods of Using Anti-CEA Antigen Binding Molecules
(94) The CEACAM×CD47 bispecific antibodies according to the invention are optimized for treatment of solid tumors mainly by macrophages mediated phagocytosis of the tumor cells, either in monotherapy or in combination therapy especially together with a CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody like CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1 and/or PD-1 axis antagonist. The antibody according to the invention and the CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody can be administered as described below.
(95) In a particular embodiment, the disease resp. solid tumor is a cancer that expresses or even overexpresses CEA, including but not limited to the group of colorectal tumors, non-small cell lung tumors, gastric tumors, pancreatic tumors and breast tumors. In a particular embodiment, the tumor is a colorectal tumor. All therapeutic applications methods of use, uses, combinations, etc. described herein are especially embodiments for the treatment of these tumors/diseases.
(96) The inventors recognize that the antibodies according to the invention show low or no ADA formation potential respectively loss of exposure due to neutralizing ADA respectively loss of efficacy.
(97) In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of treating carcinomas (cancer, tumors, for example, human carcinomas), especially CEA expressing tumors, in vivo. This method comprises administering to a subject a pharmaceutically effective amount of a composition containing a bispecific antibody of the invention. By “subject” is meant a human subject, in one embodiment a patient suffering from cancer/tumor/carcinoma.
(98) CEA expression in various tumor entities is generally very high, especially in colorectal carcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck carcinoma, uterine and bladder cancers among others. In healthy, normal glandular epithelia in the gastrointestinal tract, CEA is mainly expressed in a polarized pattern on the apical surface of the cells. This polarized expression pattern limits the accessibility by anti-CEA mono or bispecific antibodies which are administered systemically and therefore potential toxicity. Together with the low affinity CD47 binding of the antibody of the invention this leads to no or limited phagocytosis of such normal cells by the antibody of the invention. This polarized expression pattern gets lost in the cells of gastrointestinal and other malignant tumors. CEA is expressed equally over the whole cell surface of the cancer cells that means cancer cells are much better accessible to an antibody of the invention than normal, healthy cells and can be selectively killed by the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies of the invention respectively by the combinations mentioned above.
(99) In one embodiment the bispecific antibodies of this invention can be used in monotherapy for the treatment of advanced solid tumors, in one embodiment CEA expressing tumors. In one embodiment a bispecific antibody according to the invention is used in combination with a CEA×CD3 Mab in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination. In one embodiment a bispecific antibody according to the invention is used in combination with a CEA×CD3 Mab and/or a PD-1 axis antagonist in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination. In one embodiment a bispecific antibody according to the invention is used in combination with a PD-1 axis antagonist in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination. Such PD-1 axis antagonists are described e.g. in WO2017118675. Such combinations attack the solid cancer by macrophages and T-cells. Two CEA×CD3 Mabs are in clinical development (CEA-TCB and CEA-TCB1; RO6958688 in NCT3866239 and RO7172508 in NCT03539484). MEDI-565 was in clinical development but no active clinical trial could be identified. In one embodiment as bispecific antibody against CEA and CD3, antibody CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1 is used.
(100) The binder to CEA used in CEA-TCB has been derived from anti-CEA antibody PR1A3 (see e.g. EP2681244B1). This antibody binds to the so called B3 domain of CEA. CEA-TCB has a low nM binding affinity to CEA and shows efficacy in high doses (between 40 and 600 mg per dose and patient; (see e.g. J. Tabernero et. al., J. Clin. Oncol. 35, 2017 (suppl. Abstr. 3002)). At these doses nearly all CEA targets on the cell surfaces are occupied by the CEA-TCB. Combination of CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1 and CEA×CD47 generates therapeutic plasma levels of both drugs at the same time and achieves best results (additive or even synergistic), if both drugs are non-competitive for the CEA antigen.
(101) As used herein the terms “combination, simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination” of a an antibody according to the invention and a second bispecific antibody, binding to human CEA and human CD3ε refer to any administration of the two antibodies (or three antibodies in case of the combination of an antibody of the invention, a CEA×CD3 Mab and a PD-1 axis antagonist), either separately or together, where the two or three antibodies are administered as part of an appropriate dose regimen designed to obtain the benefit of the combination therapy, for example in separate, sequential, simultaneous, concurrent, chronologically staggered or alternating administration. Thus, the two or three antibodies can be administered either as part of the same pharmaceutical composition or in separate pharmaceutical compositions. The antibody according to the invention can be administered prior to, at the same time as, or subsequent to the administration of the second bispecific antibody, or in some combination thereof. Where the antibody according to the invention is administered to the patient at repeated intervals, e.g., during a standard course of treatment, the second bispecific antibody can be administered prior to, at the same time as, or subsequent to, each administration of the antibody of the invention or some combination thereof, or at different intervals in relation to the treatment with the antibody of the invention, or in a single dose prior to, at any time during, or subsequent to the course of treatment with the antibody of the invention. In one embodiment the antibody according to the invention and the second bispecific antibody are administered in alternating administration, in one embodiment in intervals of 6 to 15 days between administration of the antibody of the invention and the second antibody. In such alternating administration the first dose can be the antibody of the invention or the second antibody.
(102) The term “PD-1 axis antagonist” refers to an anti-PD-1 antibody or an anti-PD-L1 antibody. Anti-PD-1 antibodies are e.g. pembrolizumab (Keytruda®, MK-3475), nivolumab, pidilizumab, lambrolizumab, MEDI-0680, PDR001, and REGN2810. Anti-PD-1 antibodies are described e.g. in 5 WO200815671, WO2013173223, WO2015026634, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,521,051, 8,008,449, 8,354,509, WO20091 14335, WO2015026634, WO2008156712, WO2015026634, WO2003099196, WO2009101611, WO2010/027423, WO2010/027827, WO2010/027828, WO2008/156712, and WO2008/156712 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
(103) Anti-PD-L1 antibodies are e.g. atezolizumab, MDX-1 105, durvalumab and avelumab. Anti-PD-L1 antibodies are e.g. described in WO2015026634, WO2013/019906, WO2010077634, U.S. Pat. No. 8,383,796, WO2010077634, WO2007005874, and WO2016007235 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
(104) With regard to combined administration of the antibody according to the invention and the second bispecific antibody, both compounds may be present in one single dosage form or in separate dosage forms, for example in two different or identical dosage forms.
(105) If the antibody of the invention and the second antibody are not competing in regard to CEACAM5, in one embodiment both antibodies if desired by the physician, can be administered simultaneously. If the antibody of the invention and the second antibody are competing in regard to CEACAM5, in one embodiment both antibodies are administered in alternating administration.
(106) The antibody of the invention will typically be administered to the patient in a dose regimen that provides for the most effective treatment of the cancer (from both efficacy and safety perspectives) for which the patient is being treated, as known in the art. Preferably tumor cells are attacked at the same time by T-cells and macrophages, to achieve full therapeutic potential of this approach, CEA-CD3 and CEA×CD47 bispecific antibody have to be non-competitive regarding binding to CEA on cell surface.
(107) As discussed above, the amount of the antibody administered and the timing of the administration of the antibody of the invention can depend on the type (e.g. gender, age, weight) and condition of the patient being treated, the severity of the disease or condition being treated, and on the route of administration. For example, the antibody of the invention and the second antibody can be administered to a patient in doses ranging from 0.1 to 100 mg/kg of body weight per day or per week in single or divided doses, or by continuous infusion. In one embodiment each of the antibodies of the invention and the second antibody is administered to a patient in doses ranging from 0.1 to 20 mg/kg. In some instances, dosage levels below the lower limit of the aforesaid range may be adequate, while in other cases still larger doses may be employed without causing any harmful side effect.
(108) As used herein, the term “half-life of the antibody” refers to the half-life of said antibody as measured in a usual pharmacokinetic assay, e.g. as described in example 17. An antibody according to the invention and the second bispecific antibody against CEA and CD3 have elimination half-life of 3-14 days.
(109) In another aspect, the invention is also directed to use of the bispecific antibody according to the invention in the treatment of disease, particularly cell proliferation disorders wherein CEA is expressed, particularly wherein CEA is abnormally expressed (e.g., overexpressed or expressed in a different pattern on the cell surface) compared to normal tissue of the same cell type. Such disorders include, but are not limited to colorectal cancer, NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. CEA expression levels may be determined by methods known in the art (e.g., via immunohistochemistry assay, immunofluorescence assay, immunoenzyme assay, ELISA, flow cytometry, radioimmunoassay etc.).
(110) In one aspect, bispecific antibodies of the present invention can be used for targeting cells in vivo or in vitro that expresses CEA. The bispecific antibodies of the invention are particularly useful in the prevention of tumor formation, eradication of tumors and inhibition of tumor growth or metastasis via the induction of ADCP and ADCC of tumor cells. The bispecific antibodies of the invention can be used to treat any tumor expressing CEA. Particular malignancies that can be treated with the bispecific antibodies of the invention include, but are not limited to, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
(111) The bispecific antibodies of the invention are administered to a mammal, preferably a human, in a pharmaceutically acceptable dosage form such as those discussed below, including those that may be administered to a human intravenously as a bolus or by continuous infusion over a period of time, by intramuscular, intraperitoneal, intra-cerebrospinal, subcutaneous, intra-articular, intrasynovial, intrathecal, oral, topical, or inhalation routes. The bispecific antibodies of the invention also are suitably administered by intra tumoral, peritumoral, intralesional, or perilesional routes, to exert local as well as systemic therapeutic effects.
(112) For the treatment of disease, the appropriate dosage of bispecific antibodies of the invention will depend on the type of disease to be treated, the severity and course of the disease, previous therapy, the patient's clinical history and response to the antibody, and the discretion of the attending physician. The bispecific antibody of the invention is suitably administered to the patient at one time or over a series of treatments. The present invention provides a method for selectively killing tumor cells expressing CEA.
(113) This method comprises interaction of the bispecific antibodies of the invention with said tumor cells. These tumor cells may be from a human carcinoma including colorectal carcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), gastric carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma and breast carcinoma.
(114) In another aspect, the invention is directed to the use of the bispecific antibodies of the invention for the manufacture of a medicament for treating a disease related to abnormal CEA expression. In a particular embodiment, the disease is a cancer that expresses or even overexpresses CEA, including but not limited to colorectal tumor, non-small cell lung tumor, gastric tumor, pancreatic tumor and breast tumor. In a particular embodiment, the tumor is a colorectal tumor.
(115) Compositions, Formulations. Dosages, and Routes of Administration
(116) In one aspect, the present invention is directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the bispecific antibodies of the present invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The present invention is further directed to the use of such pharmaceutical compositions in the method of treatment of disease, such as cancer, or in the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of disease, such as cancer. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a method for the treatment of disease, and more particularly, for the treatment of cancer, the method comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the pharmaceutical composition of the invention.
(117) In one aspect, the present invention encompasses pharmaceutical compositions, combinations and methods for treating human carcinomas, tumors, as defined above. For example, the invention includes pharmaceutical compositions for use in the treatment of human carcinomas comprising a pharmaceutically effective amount of an antibody of the present invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
(118) The bispecific antibody compositions of the invention can be administered using conventional modes of administration including, but not limited to, intravenous, intraperitoneal, oral, intralymphatic or direct intratumoral administration. Intravenous administration or subcutaneous administration are preferred.
(119) In one aspect of the invention, therapeutic formulations containing the bispecific antibodies of the invention are prepared for storage by mixing an antibody having the desired degree of purity with optional pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, excipients or stabilizers (Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences 16th edition, Osol, A. Ed. (1980)), in the form of lyophilized formulations or liquid formulations. Acceptable carriers, excipients, or stabilizers are nontoxic to recipients at the dosages and concentrations employed. The formulations to be used for in vivo administration must be sterile. This is readily accomplished by filtration through sterile filtration membranes. The most effective mode of administration and dosage regimen for the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention depends upon the severity and course of the disease, the patient's condition and response to treatment and the judgment of the treating physician. Accordingly, the dosages of the compositions may be flat doses or may be adapted to the individual patient, e.g. the body weight. Nevertheless, an effective dose of the compositions of this invention will generally be in a range from 0.1 to 20 mg/kg.
(120) The bispecific antibodies of this invention have a molecular weight in a magnitude of 150 kD per Mol. They carry in one embodiment a Fc part. The elimination half-life in patients is in a range of 3 to 14 days. This half-life allows for, but not limited to administration once a day, once a week, or once every two weeks.
(121) The bispecific antibodies of the present invention and their respective compositions may be in a variety of dosage forms which include, but are not limited to, liquid solutions or suspensions, tablets, pills, powders, suppositories, polymeric microcapsules or microvesicles, liposomes, and injectable or infusible solutions. The preferred form depends upon the mode of administration and the therapeutic application.
(122) The composition comprising a bispecific antibody of the present invention will be formulated, dosed, and administered in a fashion consistent with good medical practice. Factors for consideration in this context include the particular disease or disorder being treated, the particular mammal being treated, the clinic condition of the individual patient, the cause of the disease or disorder, the site of delivery of the agent, the method of administration, the scheduling of administration, and other factors known to medical practitioners.
(123) Articles of Manufacture
(124) In another aspect of the invention, an article of manufacture containing materials useful for the treatment, prevention and/or diagnosis of the disorders described above is provided. The article of manufacture comprises a container and a label or package insert on or associated with the container. Suitable containers include, for example, bottles, vials, syringes, IV solution bags, etc. The containers may be formed from a variety of materials such as glass or plastic. The container holds a composition which is by itself or combined with another composition effective for treating, preventing and/or diagnosing the condition and may have a sterile access port (for example the container may be an intravenous solution bag or a vial having a stopper pierceable by a hypodermic injection needle). At least one active agent in the composition is a bispecific antibody of the invention. The label or package insert indicates that the composition is used for treating the condition of choice. Moreover, the article of manufacture may comprise (a) a first container with a composition contained therein, wherein the composition comprises a bispecific antibody of the invention; and (b) a second container with a composition contained therein; wherein the composition comprises a further cytotoxic or otherwise therapeutic agent. The article of manufacture in this embodiment of the invention may further comprise a package insert indicating that the compositions can be used to treat a particular condition. Alternatively, or additionally, the article of manufacture may further comprise a second (or third) container comprising a pharmaceutically-acceptable buffer, such as bacteriostatic water for injection (BWFI), phosphate-buffered saline, Ringer's solution and dextrose solution. It may further include other materials desirable from a commercial and user standpoint, including other buffers, diluents, filters, needles, and syringes.
FURTHER EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
(125) In the following embodiments of a bispecific antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and human CD47 are described.
(126) 1. A bispecific antibody comprising a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47.
(127) 2. The bispecific antibody according to embodiment 1, characterized in that the Fc region has been glycoengineered to have a reduced number of fucose residues as compared to the same but non-glycoengineered bispecific antibody.
(128) 3. The bispecific antibody according to embodiment 1 or 2, characterized in that the first binding part binds to the Ig-like V-type domain of CEACAM5 of amino acids 35-144.
(129) 4. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, characterized in that said bispecific antibody competes with antibody SM3E for binding to CEACAM5.
(130) 5. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, characterized in that said bispecific antibody does not compete with antibodies SM3E, MEDI, LAB, SAR, T86.66, CH1A1A.
(131) 6. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, characterized in that the EC50 value of phagocytosis of said bispecific antibody is in the range of 0.1 to 10 times of the E50 value of reference antibody K2AC22 under the same experimental conditions and in the presence or without of 1 mg/ml human IgG.
(132) 7. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 6, characterized in that in presence of 1 mg/ml human IgG maximum of phagocytosis index measured in imaging based assay is not decreased by more than 30% in comparison to phagocytosis without human IgG under the same experimental conditions.
(133) 8. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7, characterized in being monovalent for the first binding part and monovalent for the second binding part.
(134) 9. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 8, characterized in that each of the first and second binding part comprises an immunoglobulin heavy chain and an immunoglobulin light chain.
(135) 10. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 9, characterized in being of human IgG1 type.
(136) 11. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 10, characterized in that the constant and variable framework region sequences are human or of human origin.
(137) 12. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 11, characterized in that the bispecific antibody is a full-length antibody.
(138) 13. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, characterized in comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD47, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain.
(139) 14. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, characterized in comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a lambda light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD47, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain.
(140) 15. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 13 or 14, characterized in comprising a common heavy chain.
(141) 16. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 15, characterized in
(142) a) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:1, a CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:2 and a CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:3 and a light chain constant domain of human lambda type and of SEQ ID NO:13, and
(143) that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:1, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:2 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:3 and a light chain variable region comprising a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:7, CDRL2 of Ala Ala Ser, included in SEQ ID NO:8, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:9, or
b) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain constant domain of human lambda type and of SEQ ID NO:13, and that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:28, CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO:29, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:30.
(144) 17. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 16, characterized in comprising a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47, characterized in
(145) a) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, a CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and a CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain variable region comprising a combination of CDRL1, CDRL2 and CDRL3 selected from the group consisting of:
SEQ ID NO:31, 32 and 33; SEQ ID NO:34, 35 and 36, SEQ ID NO:37, 38 and 39, SEQ ID NO:40, 41 and 42, SEQ ID NO:43, 44 and 45, SEQ ID NO:46; 47 and 48, SEQ ID NO:49, 50 and 51, SEQ ID NO:52, 53 and 54, SEQ ID NO:55, 56 and 57, SEQ ID NO:58, 59 and 60, SEQ ID NO:61, 62 and 63, and SEQ ID NO: 112, 113, and 114, and
b) that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:1, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:2 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:3 and a light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:7, CDRL2 of Ala Ala Ser, included in SEQ ID NO:8, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:9, or
that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:28, CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO:29, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:30 and optionally a light chain constant domain of human lambda type and of SEQ ID NO:13
(146) 18. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 17, characterized in comprising a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47, characterized in
(147) a) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:4 and a light chain variable region selected from the group of VLs included in the VLCL regions consisting of:
(148) SEQ ID NO:64, SEQ ID NO:65, SEQ ID NO:66, SEQ ID NO:67, SEQ ID NO:68, SEQ ID NO:69, SEQ ID NO:70, SEQ ID NO:71, SEQ ID NO:72, SEQ ID NO:73, SEQ ID NO:74, and SEQ ID NO:115, and
(149) b) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:4 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:10.
(150) 19. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 18, characterized in comprising a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47, characterized in
(151) a) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain of SEQ ID NO:5 and a light chain selected from the group consisting of:
(152) SEQ ID NO:64, SEQ ID NO:65, SEQ ID NO:66, SEQ ID NO:67, SEQ ID NO:68, SEQ ID NO:69, SEQ ID NO:70, SEQ ID NO:71, SEQ ID NO:72, SEQ ID NO:73, SEQ ID NO:74, and SEQ ID NO:115, and
(153) b) that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:5 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:11.
(154) 20. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 19, characterized in being a full-length bispecific antibody of human IgG1 type and being monovalent for the first binding part and monovalent for the second binding part, and comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD47, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain or comprising a first binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a lambda light chain variable domain and a lambda light chain constant domain and a second binding part specifically binding to human CD47, comprising a kappa light chain variable domain and a kappa light chain constant domain.
(155) 21. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 20, characterized in binding to human CD47 with a binding affinity of 100 nM to 600 nM, preferably 100 to 500 nM.
(156) 22. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 21, characterized in binding to MKN-45 cells with an EC50 value of 1 to 200 nM.
(157) 23. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 22, characterized in binding to human CD47 with a binding affinity of 100 nM to 500 nM, and binding to MKN-45 cells with an EC50 value of 1 to 200 nM.
(158) 24. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 23, characterized in that
(159) a) the EC50 for the phagocytosis index curve of MKN-45 cells in the presence of human macrophages, by said bispecific antibody is not shifted by more than a factor 4 towards higher concentrations in the presence of 200 ng/ml soluble CEA compared to the EC50 measured without soluble CEA and/or that the maximum of the phagocytosis index curve is not reduced by 10% or more, 15% or more, or 20% or more by addition of 200 ng/mL soluble CEA, and/or
b) the EC50 for the binding curve to MKN-45 cells of said bispecific antibody is not shifted by more than a factor 2 towards higher concentrations in the presence of 200 ng/ml soluble CEA compared to the EC50 measured without soluble CEA.
(160) 25. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 24, characterized in binding to human recombinant CEACAM5 and CEACAM6, whereby the EC50 values of binding to recombinant CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 differing by less than a factor of 3.
(161) 26. The bispecific antibody according to embodiments 25, characterized in a) that the first binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO: 112, a CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO: 113, and a CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO: 114, and b) that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:25, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:26 and CDRH3 of SEQ ID NO:27 and a light chain variable region comprising as CDRs a CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:28, CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO:29, and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:30.
(162) 27. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 26, characterized that a bispecific antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and CD3ε, comprising as heavy chains the heavy chains of SEQ ID NO:97 and 98 and as light chains the light chains of SEQ ID NO: 96 and 99 in a concentration of 300 nM does not shift the EC50 of the binding curve of the bispecific antibody of the invention to MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations.
(163) 28. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 27, characterized that a bispecific antibody specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and CD3ε (further named also as CEA-TCB1), comprising as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 in a concentration of 30 nM does not shift the EC50 of the binding curve of the bispecific antibody of the invention to MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations.
(164) 29. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 28, characterized in that the Fc region has been glycoengineered to have a reduced number of fucose residues as compared to the respective parent bispecific antibody.
(165) 30. The bispecific antibody according to embodiment 29, characterized in that 50% to 100% of the N-linked oligosaccharides in the Fc region are nonfucosylated.
(166) 31. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 or 30, characterized in that 50% to 100% of the N-linked oligosaccharides in the Fc region are bisected.
(167) 32. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 to 31, characterized that 80% to 100% of the N-linked oligosaccharides in the Fc region are bisected and nonfucosylated.
(168) 33. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 to 32, characterized in that EC50 value of ADCC and/or ADCC maximum induced by said antibody is increased by a factor of 1.2 to 2.0 or a factor of at least 2.0 and/or EC50 value of the phagocytosis index curve is decreased by at least a factor of 1.2 to 2.0 or a factor of at least 2.0 compared to the maximum of ADCC and/or EC50 value induced by the respective parent bispecific antibody.
(169) 34. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 to 33, characterized in that by imaging determined maximum of the phagocytosis index induced by said antibody is increased by at least a factor of 3 and/or EC50 value of the phagocytosis index curve is decreased by at least a factor of 3 or a factor of at least 5 compared to the maximum of the phagocytosis index respectively the EC50 value induced by the respective parent bispecific antibody.
(170) 35. A method for the production of a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 to 34 and 30, characterized in comprising:
(171) a) culturing a host cell engineered to express at least one nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having β(1,4)-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III activity under conditions which permit the production of said bispecific antibody, and which permit said glycoengineered modification of the oligosaccharides present on the Fc region of said bispecific antibody; and
b) isolating said glycoengineered bispecific antibody wherein said antibody is capable of specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and human CD47.
(172) 36. A method for the production of a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 29 to and 33 to 34, characterized in comprising: a) culturing a host cell glycoengineered by targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene under conditions which permit the production of said glycoengineered bispecific antibody of the invention, and which permit the said glycoengineered modification of the oligosaccharides present on the Fc region of said bispecific antibody, and b) isolating said glycoengineered bispecific antibody wherein said antibody is capable of specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and human CD47.
(173) 37. An isolated polynucleotide characterized in encoding a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34.
(174) 38. A vector comprising the polynucleotide according to embodiment 37.
(175) 39. A host cell comprising the vector according to embodiment 38.
(176) 40. A composition comprising a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
(177) 41. A method of inducing cell lysis of a tumor cell comprising contacting the tumor cell with a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34.
(178) 42. A method according to embodiment 41, characterized in that the tumor cell is a colorectal cancer cell, NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), gastric cancer cell, pancreatic cancer cell, breast cancer cell, or another tumor cell expressing human CEACAM5.
(179) 43. A method of treating a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA, the method comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34.
(180) 44. A method of increasing survival time in a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA, said method comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34.
(181) 45. The method according to embodiment 43 or 44, characterized in that the cancer is colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer or breast cancer.
(182) 46. The method according to any one of embodiments 43 to 45, characterized in that a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 is administered in combination with chemotherapy or radiation therapy to a human subject.
(183) 47. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 for use in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA.
(184) 48. The bispecific antibody for use according to embodiment 47, characterized in that the cancer is selected from the group consisting of colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
(185) 49. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 for use in a method of treating a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA, the method comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a said bispecific antibody, characterized in that the EC50 value of phagocytosis of said bispecific antibody is in the range of 0.1 to 10 times of the E50 value of reference antibody K2AC22, which comprises a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47, whereby the first binding part comprises a heavy chain of SEQ ID NO:5 and a light chain of SEQ ID NO:65, and that the second binding part comprises a heavy chain of SEQ ID NO:5 and a light chain of SEQ ID NO:11, under the same experimental conditions and in the presence and/or without of 1 mg/ml human IgG.
(186) 50. A first bispecific antibody comprising a first binding part, specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a second binding part, specifically binding to human CD47, for use in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination with a second bispecific antibody comprising a third binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5 and a fourth binding part specifically binding to human CD3ε, in the treatment of a human subject having a cancer that expresses CEA.
(187) 51. The first bispecific antibody for use according to embodiment 50, characterized in that said fourth binding part of the second bispecific antibody binds to an epitope of human CD3ε which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:22.
(188) 52. The first bispecific antibody for use according to embodiment 50 or 51, characterized in that said second antibody comprises as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or comprises as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 and that said second antibody in a concentration of 300 nM or 30 nM does not shift the EC50 of the binding curve of said first bispecific antibody to MKN-45 cells by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations.
(189) 53. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34, for use in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination with a second bispecific antibody comprising as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or comprising as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA.
(190) 54. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 and 50 to 53, characterized in not competing with a second bispecific antibody comprising as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or comprising as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 for use in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination with said second bispecific antibody in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses human CEACAM5.
(191) 55. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 and 50 to 53, for use in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses human CEACAM5, with a second bispecific antibody comprising a) a third binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:20 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:21 and a fourth binding part specifically binding to, an epitope of human CD3ε, said epitope comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:22 or b) as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 respectively, in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses human CEACAM5, whereby said second bispecific antibody in a concentration of 300 nM (SEQ ID NO:96 to 99) or 30 nM (SEQ ID NO 92 to 95) does not shift the EC50 of the phagocytosis index curve of MKN-45 cells of the bispecific antibody according to any one of the embodiments 1 to 34 by more than a factor of 3 to higher concentrations.
(192) 56. The bispecific antibody for use according to any one of embodiments 50 to 55, characterized in that said cancer is colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
(193) 57. The bispecific antibody for use according to any one of embodiments 50 to 56, characterized in that the bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34 and the second bispecific antibody are administered to said subject alternately or simultaneously in 6 to 15 day intervals.
(194) 58. A composition comprising a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34, characterized in not cross reacting with a second bispecific antibody comprising a) a third binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:20 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:21 and a fourth binding part specifically binding to, an epitope of human CD3ε, comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:22, orb) as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95, for use in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses human CEACAM5.
(195) 59. A composition comprising a bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34, for use in simultaneous, separate, or sequential combination in the treatment of a subject having a cancer that expresses human CEACAM5, with a second bispecific antibody comprising a) a third binding part specifically binding to human CEACAM5, comprising a heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:20 and a light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO:21 and a fourth binding part specifically binding to, an epitope of human CD3ε, comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:22, or b) as heavy and light chains the chains of SEQ ID NO:96 to 99 or as heavy and light chains the chains of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95, whereby said second bispecific antibody in a concentration of 300 nM respectively 30 nM (SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95) does not shift the EC50 of the phagocytosis index curve of MKN-45 cells of the bispecific antibody according to any one of the embodiments 1 to 34 by more than a factor of 3, in one embodiment towards higher concentrations.
(196) 60. The composition according to embodiment 58 or 59, characterized in that the cancer is colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
(197) 61. A bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34, for use in a method of treating a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA, the method comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of said bispecific antibody.
(198) 62. A bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 1 to 34, for use in a method of increasing survival time in a subject having a cancer that expresses CEA, said method comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of said bispecific antibody.
(199) 63. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 61 or 62, characterized in that said bispecific antibody is administered in combination with chemotherapy or radiation therapy to a human subject.
(200) 64. The bispecific antibody according to any one of embodiments 60 or 62, characterized in that said cancer is colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer or breast cancer.
(201) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEQUENCE LIST Sequence Number Relates to SEQ ID NO: 1 Mab CD47 CDRH1 (IMGT) SEQ ID NO: 2 Mab CD47 CDRH2 (IMGT) SEQ ID NO: 3 Mab CD47 CDRH3 (IMGT) SEQ ID NO: 4 Mab CD47 VH SEQ ID NO: 5 Mab CD47 heavy chain SEQ ID NO: 6 Mab CD47 heavy chain (nucleic acid) SEQ ID NO: 7 Mab CD47 CDRL1 (IMGT) SEQ ID NO: 8 Mab CD47 CDRL2 (only Ala Ala Ser; IMGT)) SEQ ID NO: 9 Mab CD47 CDRL3 (IMGT) SEQ ID NO: 10 Mab CD47 VL SEQ ID NO: 11 Mab CD47 light chain; KA3 (K2) SEQ ID NO: 12 Mab CD47 light chain (nucleic acid); KA3 (K2) SEQ ID NO: 13 First binding part CL SEQ ID NO: 14 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 15 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 16 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 17 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 18 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 19 Primer example 12 SEQ ID NO: 20 MAB CEA variable heavy chain SEQ ID NO: 21 MAB CEA variable light chain SEQ ID NO: 22 Epitope of CD3 epsilon SEQ ID NO: 23 Mab CD47 heavy chain, DE substitution SEQ ID NO: 24 Mab CD47 heavy chain, DEA substitution SEQ ID NO: 25 Mab CD47 CDRH1 (Kabat) SEQ ID NO: 26 Mab CD47 CDRH2 (Kabat) SEQ ID NO: 27 Mab CD47 CDRH3 (Kabat) SEQ ID NO: 28 Mab CD47 CDRL1 (Kabat); KA3 SEQ ID NO: 29 Mab CD47 CDRL2 (Kabat); KA3 SEQ ID NO: 30 Mab CD47 CDRL3 (Kabat); KA3 SEQ ID NO: 31 Mab CEA CDRL1; 1D9 (AC5) SEQ ID NO: 32 Mab CEA CDRL2; 1D9 (AC5) SEQ ID NO: 33 Mab CEA CDRL3; 1D9 (AC5) SEQ ID NO: 34 Mab CEA CDRL1; 1G6 (AC22) SEQ ID NO: 35 Mab CEA CDRL2; 1G6 (AC22) SEQ ID NO: 36 Mab CEA CDRL3; 1G6 (AC22) SEQ ID NO: 37 Mab CEA CDRL1; 1D5 (AC10) SEQ ID NO: 38 Mab CEA CDRL2; 1D5 (AC10) SEQ ID NO: 39 Mab CEA CDRL3; 1D5 (AC10) SEQ ID NO: 40 Mab CEA CDRL1, 2B8 (AC13) SEQ ID NO: 41 Mab CEA CDRL2; 2B8 (AC13) SEQ ID NO: 42 Mab CEA CDRL3; 2B8 (AC13) SEQ ID NO: 43 Mab CEA CDRL1; 1A2 (AC18) SEQ ID NO: 44 Mab CEA CDRL2; 1A2 (AC18) SEQ ID NO: 45 Mab CEA CDRL3; 1A2 (AC18) SEQ ID NO: 46 Mab CEA CDRL1; 1A8 (AC23) SEQ ID NO: 47 Mab CEA CDRL2; 1A8 (AC23) SEQ ID NO: 48 Mab CEA CDRL3; 1A8 (AC23) SEQ ID NO: 49 Mab CEA CDRL1; 2F4 (AC25) SEQ ID NO: 50 Mab CEA CDRL2; 2F4 (AC25) SEQ ID NO: 51 Mab CEA CDRL3; 2F4 (AC25) SEQ ID NO: 52 Mab CEA CDRL1; 2F7 (AC26) SEQ ID NO: 53 Mab CEA CDRL2; 2F7 (AC26) SEQ ID NO: 54 Mab CEA CDRL3; 2F7 (AC26) SEQ ID NO: 55 Mab CEA CDRL1; 2C11 (AC27) SEQ ID NO: 56 Mab CEA CDRL2; 2C11 (AC27) SEQ ID NO: 57 Mab CEA CDRL3; 2C11 (AC27) SEQ ID NO: 58 Mab CEA CDRL1; C11 (AC28) SEQ ID NO: 59 Mab CEA CDRL2; C11 (AC28) SEQ ID NO: 60 Mab CEA CDRL3; C11 (AC28) SEQ ID NO: 61 Mab CEA CDRL1; 2B5 (AC29) SEQ ID NO: 62 Mab CEA CDRL2; 2B5 (AC29) SEQ ID NO: 63 Mab CEA CDRL3; 2B5 (AC29) SEQ ID NO: 64 Mab CEA 1D9 VLCL2 CEA (AC5) SEQ ID NO: 65 Mab CEA 1G6 VLCL2 CEA (AC22) SEQ ID NO: 66 Mab CEA 1D5 VLCL2 CEA (AC10) SEQ ID NO: 67 Mab CEA 2B8 VLCL2 CEA (AC13) SEQ ID NO: 68 Mab CEA 1A2 VLCL2 CEA (AC18) SEQ ID NO: 69 Mab CEA 1A8 VLCL2 CEA (AC23) SEQ ID NO: 70 Mab CEA 2F4 VLCL2 CEA (AC25) SEQ ID NO: 71 Mab CEA 2F7 VLCL2 CEA (AC26) SEQ ID NO: 72 Mab CEA 2C11 VLCL2 CEA (AC27) SEQ ID NO: 73 Mab CEA C11 VLCL2 CEA (AC28) SEQ ID NO: 74 Mab CEA 2B5 VLCL2 CEA (AC29) SEQ ID NO: 75 Nucleic acid 1D9 VLCL2 CEA (AC5) SEQ ID NO: 76 Nucleic acid 1G6 VLCL2 CEA (AC22) SEQ ID NO: 77 Nucleic acid1D5 VLCL2 CEA (AC10) SEQ ID NO: 78 Nucleic acid 2B8 VLCL2 CEA (AC13) SEQ ID NO: 79 Nucleic acid 1A2 VLCL2 CEA (AC18) SEQ ID NO: 80 Nucleic acid 1A8 VLCL2 CEA (AC23) SEQ ID NO: 81 Nucleic acid 2F4 VLCL2 CEA (AC25) SEQ ID NO: 82 Nucleic acid 2F7 VLCL2 CEA (AC26) SEQ ID NO: 83 Nucleic acid 2C11 VLCL2 CEA (AC27) SEQ ID NO: 84 Nucleic acid C11 VLCL2 CEA (AC28) SEQ ID NO: 85 Nucleic acid 2B5 VLCL2 CEA (AC29) SEQ ID NO: 86 Human CEA (CEACAM5); full-length DNA SEQ ID NO: 87 Human CEA (CEACAM5); full-length protein SEQ ID NO: 88 MAB CEA1 VH (SEQ31) and part of CEA VH-CH1(EE)-Fc (hole, P329G LALA) [SEQ ID 36] aa TCB WO2017055389) and SEQ37 SEQ ID NO: 89 MAB CEA1 VL (SEQ32) and part of Hum. CEA VL-CL(RK) [SEQ ID 38] aa TCB WO201705538 SEQ ID NO: 90 MAB CD3 VH (SEQ33) and part of CD3 VH-CL(CK) aa TCB WO2017055389 [SEQ ID 34]) SEQ ID NO: 91 MAB CD3 VL, (SEQ 34) and part of CEA VH-CH1(EE)-CD3 VL-CH1-Fc 9G LALA) [SEQ ID 37] aa TCB WO2017055389) SEQ ID NO: 92 CD3 VH-CL(CK) SEQ ID NO: 93 CEA VH-CH1(EE)-Fc (hole, P329G LALA) SEQ ID NO: 94 CEAVH-CH1(EE)-CD VL-CH1-Fc (knob, P329G) SEQ ID NO: 95 CEA VL-CL(RK) SEQ ID NO: 96 CD3 CH2527 Cross Fab VL-CH1 SEQ ID NO: 97 CH1A10 VH CH1 FC Hole P329G LALA SEQ ID NO: 98 CH1A1A CD3 CH2527 Cross Fab VH-CK FC Knob P329G LALA SEQ ID NO: 99 LC CEA SEQ ID NO: 100 VK_SM3E SEQ ID NO: 101 VH_SM3E SEQ ID NO: 102 VL_MEDI SEQ ID NO: 103 VH_MEDI SEQ ID NO: 104 VK_SAR SEQ ID NO: 105 VH_SAR SEQ ID NO: 106 VK_CH1A1A SEQ ID NO: 107 VH_CH1A1A SEQ ID NO: 108 VK_T84.66 SEQ ID NO: 109 VH_T84.66 SEQ ID NO: 110 VK_LABETUZUMAB SEQ ID NO: 111 VH_LABETUZUMAB SEQ ID NO: 112 Mab CEA 1B2 (AC39) CDRL1 SEQ ID NO: 113 Mab CEA 1B2 (AC39) CDRL2 SEQ ID NO: 114 Mab CEA 1B2 (AC39) CDRL3 SEQ ID NO: 115 Mab CEA 1B2 (AC39) VLCL2 SEQ ID NO: 116 Mab CEA 1B2 (AC39) VLCL2, nucleic acid SEQ ID NO: 92 to 95 refers to CEA-TCB1 and SEQ 96 to 99 refers to CEA-TCB. Ala: alanine; Ser: serine
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Cloning, Expression and Purification of Human CD47
(202) Cloning
(203) The sequence corresponding to the extracellular domain of human CD47 (hCD47), is amplified from human cDNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific oligonucleotides. The amplification product is gel-purified and cloned into the pEAK8 mammalian expression vector (Edge Biosystems, Gaithersburg, Md.). The vector is further modified to introduce an Avitag™ (Avidity, Denver Colo.) and a hexa-histidine tag at the C-terminus allowing for single site biotinylation of the protein and purification by IMAC (Immobilized Metal Ion Affinity Chromatography), respectively. The constructs are verified by DNA sequencing.
(204) Expression
(205) The plasmid is then transfected into mammalian cells using a liposome-based transfection reagent such as Lipofectamine® 2000 (Thermofisher Scientific). The transfection step requires only small quantities of DNA and cells, typically 2×10.sup.5 cells and 2 μg of plasmid DNA per well and the transfection carried out in a 6-well plate. Although different mammalian cell lines can be used, in the examples given below, transformed human embryo kidney monolayer epithelial cells (PEAK cells) are transfected. These cells stably express the EBNA-1 gene, further supporting the episomal replication process, are semi-adherent and can be grown under standard cell culture conditions (5% CO.sub.2; 37° C. in DMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum). After 24 h, cells are placed under selective conditions by adding medium containing 0.5-2 μg/mL puromycin: cells harboring the episomal vector are resistant to this antibiotic.
(206) Two to three weeks after transfection, amplified and selected cells were injected in disposable CELLine™ bioreactors for the production step. The CELLine™ is a two-compartment bioreactor that can be used in a standard cell culture incubator. The smaller compartment (15 ml) contains the cells and is separated from a larger (one liter) medium containing compartment by a semi-permeable membrane with a cut-off size of 10 kDa (Bruce et al. 2002, McDonald et al. 2005). This system allows for the diffusion of nutrients, gazes and metabolic waste products, while retaining cells and secreted proteins in the smaller compartment. The culture is maintained for 7-10 days before harvest of the supernatant. As the medium contains serum, the cells maintain good viability and several production runs can be generated using the same cells and containers.
(207) Purification
(208) After harvest, the cell culture supernatants are clarified by centrifugation. The supernatant is then supplemented with 100 mM imidazole and loaded on Ni-NTA affinity chromatography resin (Qiagen). The relatively high concentration of imidazole minimizes binding of contaminants to the resin. After washing of the column, proteins are eluted at a flow rate of 2 mL/min using a 30 mL imidazole gradient (20-400 mM imidazole) on an AKTA Prime chromatography system (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech). The elution gradient further improves the purity of the recombinant protein but can be replaced by a step elution approach if a chromatography system is not available. The eluted fractions can be analyzed by SDS-PAGE or ELISA to determine their content in recombinant protein. The fractions of interest are pooled and desalted on Amicon 10KD columns (Millipore) equilibrated with phosphate buffered saline or another appropriate buffer. The desalted proteins can then be quantified using various techniques and their purity analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Recombinant CD47 is biotinylated in vitro using biotin ligase (Avidity, Denver Colo.) according to manufacturer's instructions. After desalting the biotinylation level is evaluated by pull-down assays using streptavidin magnetic beads and SDS-PAGE analysis.
Example 2 Cloning, Expression and Purification of Human CEACAM Family Members
(209) Cloning
(210) The sequence corresponding to the complete extracellular domain (ECD) and A3-B3 domains of CEACAM5 were synthesized by Eurofins and Twist Bioscience. These synthetic genes were subcloned into the pEAK8 mammalian expression vector (Edge Biosystems, Gaithersburg, Md.). The vectors were modified to introduce an Avitag™ (Avidity, Denver Colo.) and either a hexa-histidine tag, a human FC region or a mouse FC region at the C-terminus. Constructs were verified by DNA sequencing. Purification of recombinant soluble protein was carried out by IMAC (Immobilized Metal Ion Affinity Chromatography), FcXL or CaptureSelect™ IgG-Fc (ms) Affinity Matrix (Thermofisher Scientific).
(211) Vectors encoding for the full-length version of human CEACAM 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 21 and cynomolgus CEACAM5 were also generated for expression at the cell surface of PEAK and/or CHO cells. The soluble, full-length human CEACAM16 was also similarly cloned.
(212) Expression and Purification
(213) The expression, purification and biotinylation of the above-mentioned recombinant proteins was carried out as detailed in Example 1.
Example 3 Phage Display Selection of CEACAM5 Fvs Using Human scFv Libraries Containing Fixed Variable Heavy Domain
(214) General procedures for construction and handling of human scFv libraries displayed on M13 bacteriophage are described in Vaughan et al., (Nat. Biotech. 1996, 14:309-314), hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The libraries for selection and screening encode scFv that all share the same VH domain and are solely diversified in the VL domain. Methods for the generation of fixed VH libraries and their use for the identification and assembly of bispecific antibodies are described in US 2012/0184716 and WO 2012/023053, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The procedures to identify scFv binding to human CECAM5 are described below.
(215) Protein Selections
(216) Aliquots of scFv phage libraries (10.sup.12 Pfu) are blocked with PBS containing 3% (w/v) skimmed milk for one hour at room temperature on a rotary mixer. Blocked phage is deselected on streptavidin magnetic beads (Dynabeads™ M-280) for one hour at room temperature on a rotary mixer. Deselected phage is incubated with 100 nM of either biotinylated human CEACAM5 or the A3-B3 domain captured on streptavidin magnetic beads for two hours at room temperature on a rotary mixer. Beads are captured using a magnetic stand followed by five washes with PBS/0.1% Tween® 20 and two washes with PBS. Phage is eluted with 100 nM TEA for 30 minutes at room temperature on a rotary mixer. Eluted phage and beads are neutralized with Tris™-HCl 1M pH 7.4 and directly added to 10 ml of exponentially growing TG1 cells and incubated for one hour at 37° C. with slow shaking (90 rpm). An aliquot of the infected TG1 is serial diluted to titer the selection output. The remaining infected TG1 are spun at 3800 rpm for 10 minutes and resuspended in 2 ml 2×TY and spread on 2×TYAG (2×TY medium containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin and 2% glucose) agar Bioassay plates. After overnight incubation at 30° C., 10 ml of 2×TY is added to the plates and the cells are scraped from the surface and transferred to a 50 ml polypropylene tube. 50% glycerol solution is added to the cell suspension to obtain a final concentration of 17% glycerol. Aliquots of the selection rounds are kept at −80° C.
(217) Phage Rescue
(218) 50 μl of cell suspension obtained from previous selection rounds are added to 50 ml of 2×TYAG and grown at 37° C. with agitation (240 rpm) until an OD.sub.600 of 0.3 to 0.5 is reached. The culture is then super-infected with 1.2×10.sup.11 M13K07 helper phage and incubated for one hour at 37° C. (90 rpm). The medium is changed by centrifuging the cells at 3800 rpm for 10 minutes, removing the medium and resuspending the pellet in 50 ml of 2×TYAK (2×TY medium containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin; 50 μg/ml kanamycin). The culture is then grown overnight at 30° C. (240 rpm). The next day, the phage containing supernatant is used for the next round of selection.
(219) Cell Surface Selections
(220) Phage containing supernatants are blocked with PBS containing 3% (w/v) skimmed milk for one hour at room temperature on a rotary mixer. Blocked phage is then deselected for one hour on MKN45 CEACAM5.sup.KO that do not express human CEACAM5. Deselected phage is incubated with 2×10.sup.7 MKN45 cells expressing CEACAM5 (blocked in PBS 3% BSA 0.1% NaN.sub.3) for two hours at room temperature with gentle shaking. Cells are pelleted and washed six times with PBS. Bound phage is eluted with 76 mM citric acid and shaking for 10 minutes. After neutralization with Tris-HCl 1M pH 8 the cells are added directly to 10 ml of exponentially growing TG1 and incubated for one hour at 37° C. with slow shaking. An aliquot of the infected TG1 is serial diluted to titer the selection output. Infected TG1 are spun at 3800 rpm for 10 minutes and resuspended in 2 ml 2×TY medium and spread on a 2×TYAG agar Bioassay plate. After overnight incubation at 30° C. 10 ml of 2×TY is added to the plate and the cells are scraped from the surface and transferred to a 50 ml polypropylene tube. 50% glycerol solution is added to the cell suspension to obtain a final concentration of 17% glycerol. Aliquots of the selection rounds are kept at −80° C.
Example 4 Screening for scFv Binding/Non-binding to Soluble CEACAM5, CEACAM6, and CEACAM1
(221) scFv Periplasmic Preparation for Binding and Functional Tests
(222) Individual clones are inoculated into a deep-well microtiter plate containing 0.9 ml per well of 2×TYAG medium (2×TY medium containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin, 0.1% glucose) and grown at 37° C. for 5-6 hours (240 rpm). 100 μl per well of 0.2 mM IPTG in 2×TY medium are then added to give a final concentration of 0.02 mM IPTG. The plate is incubated overnight at 30° C. with shaking at 240 rpm. The deep-well plate is centrifuged at 3200 rpm for 10 minutes at 4° C. and the supernatant carefully removed. The pellets are resuspended in 150 μl TES buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8), 1 mM EDTA (pH 8), 20% sucrose, complemented with Complete protease inhibitor, Roche). A hypotonic shock is produced by adding 150 μl of diluted TES buffer (1:5 TES:water dilution) and incubation on ice for 30 minutes. The plate is centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes at 4° C. to pellet cells and debris. The supernatants are carefully transferred into another microtiter plate and kept on ice for immediate testing in functional assays or binding assays.
(223) Binding
(224) Screening of scFv for binding to CEACAM5 is tested in a homogenous assay using CellInsight™ technology. The following reagents are mixed in each well of a 384 clear bottom well plate (Corning): 30 μl of a streptavidin polystyrene bead suspension (Polysciences; 3000 beads/well) coated with either biotinylated CEACAM5, biotinylated domain A3-B3 or biotinylated NusA for a control protein; 60 μl of blocked scFv periplasmic preparation; 10 μl of detection buffer (PBS containing mouse anti-c-myc antibody at 5 μg/ml; anti-mouse Fc AlexaFluor® 647 diluted 1:200). After mixing at 600 rpm for 5 minutes, the 384-well plate is incubated at room temperature and read after 2 hours on a CellInsight™ CX5 High-Content Screening platform (ThermoFisher Scientific). Clones expressing scFv giving a specific signal for CEACAM5 and not NusA are selected for further analysis or sequencing. Binding to CEACAM1, CEACAM6 and other CEACAMs can be measured in the same manner.
(225) Phage Clone Sequencing
(226) Single clones are inoculated into a 96-deep-well microtiter plate containing 1 ml LBAG medium (LB medium with 100 μg/ml ampicillin and 2% glucose) per well and grown overnight at 37° C., 240 rpm. DNA is extracted using the Zyppy®-96 Plasmid Miniprep kit (Zymo Research) and sequenced.
Example 5 Fixed VII Candidates Reformatting into IgG and Transient Expression in Mammalian Cells
(227) After screening and sequencing, scFv candidates with the desired binding properties are reformatted into IgG and expressed by transient transfection into PEAK cells. The VH and VL sequences of selected scFv are amplified with specific oligonucleotides and cloned into an expression vector containing the heavy and light chain constant regions and the constructions are verified by sequencing. The expression vectors are transfected into mammalian cells using Lipofectamine® 2000 (Thermofisher Scientific) according to manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, 3.5×10.sup.6 PEAK cells are cultured in T75 flasks in 25 ml culture media containing fetal bovine serum. Transfected cells are cultured for 5-6 days at 37° C., IgG production is quantified by Octet®RED96 instrument. The supernatant is harvested for IgG purification on FcXL affinity resin (Thermofisher Scientific) according to manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, supernatants from transfected cells are incubated overnight at 4° C. with an appropriate amount of FcXL resin. After resin wash by PBS, samples are loaded on Amicon Pro column and the IgG consequently eluted in 50 mM Glycine pH3.5. The eluted IgG fraction is then dialyzed by Amicon 50 kDa against Histidine NaCl pH6.0 buffer and the IgG content is quantified by absorption at 280 nm. Purity and IgG integrity are verified by Agilent Bioanalyzer manufacturer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif., USA).
Example 6 Characterization of CEACAM5 Antibodies
(228) a) Binding of CEACAM5 Antibodies to Cells Transfected with Different Members of the CEACAM Family
(229) According to the knowledge of the inventors specificity of CEACAM5 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can be shown by flow cytometry using PEAK and/or CHO cells transfected with different members of the CEACAM family. Vectors encoding the full-length version of human CEACAM 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20 and 21 and 20 are used to express these proteins at the surface of PEAK and/or CHO cells as described in Example 2. Non-transfected PEAK and/or CHO cells are used as negative control. Cells are harvested, counted, checked for viability and resuspended at 3×10.sup.6 cells/ml in FACS buffer (PBS 2% BSA, 0.1% NaN.sub.3). 100 μl of the cell suspension are distributed in V-bottom 96-well plates (3×10.sup.5 cells/well). The supematant is removed by centrifugation 3 minutes at 4° C., 1300 rpm and the cells incubated for 15 minutes at 4° C. with increasing concentrations of the antibody according to the invention. The antibodies are diluted in FACS buffer and the concentration range is 30 pM-500 nM. Cells are washed twice with cold FACS buffer and re-incubated for further 15 minutes at 4° C. with the PE (R-phycoerythrin)-conjugated mouse anti-human IgG Fc secondary antibody (SouthernBiotech, pre-diluted 1:100 in FACS buffer). Cells are washed twice with cold FACS buffer and resuspended in 300 μl FACS buffer with 1:1500-diluted TOPRO®-3 (Invitrogen). Fluorescence is measured using a FACSCalibur™ (BD Biosciences). Dose-response binding curves are fitted using GraphPad Prism7 software. In the same manner, CEACAM1, CEACAM6 and other CEACAMs can be characterized. In brief, purified Mabs are incubated with cells expressing one of the CEACAM family proteins at a final concentration of 10 μg/ml for 30 minutes. After two washes, bound antibodies are detected using a Cy-conjugated anti-human Fc secondary antibody (BD biosciences).
(230) An antibody according to the invention is found as non-binding to said CEACAM, if no bound antibody is detected by the PE-conjugated anti-human IgG Fc secondary antibody.
(231) b) Cross-Reactivity of CEACAM5 Antibodies with Cynomolgus CEACAM5
(232) According to the knowledge of the inventors the ability of CEACAM5 monoclonal antibodies of the present invention to cross-react with cynomolgus monkey CEACAM5 can be tested by flow cytometry using PEAK CHO cells transfected with a vector expressing full-length cynomolgus CEACAM5. Flow cytometry allows detecting if the said antibody is binding to the PEAK CHO cells expressing cynoCEACAM5 or if the said antibody is not binding to the PEAK CHO cells respectively non-binding to said CEACAM.
Example 7 Expression and Purification of Bispecific Antibodies Carrying a Lambda and a Kappa Light Chain
(233) The simultaneous expression of one heavy chain and two lights chain in the same cell can lead to the assembly of three different antibodies. Simultaneous expression can be achieved in different ways such as that the transfection of multiple vectors expressing one of the chains to be co-expressed or by using vectors that drive multiple gene expression. The vector encoding the different anti-CEACAM5 antibodies are co-transfected with another vector expressing the heavy and light chain of anti-CD47 antibody Ka3 (SEQ ID NO:5 and 11), an anti-CD47 antibody bearing the same common heavy chain and that is described in US 2014/0303354. Alternatively, the two light chains are cloned into the vector pNovi κHλ that is previously generated to allow for the co-expression of one heavy chain, one Kappa light chain and one Lambda light chain as described in US 2012/0184716 and WO 2012/023053, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The expression of the three genes is driven by human cytomegalovirus promoters (hCMV) and the vector also contains a glutamine synthetase gene (GS) that enables the selection and establishment of stable cell lines. The common VH and the VL genes of the anti-CEACAM5 IgG and of the anti-CD47 IgG are cloned in the vector pNovi κHλ, for transient expression in mammalian cells. Peak cells are cultured in appropriate Flask with suitable cells number and culture medium volume (containing fetal bovine serum). Plasmid DNA is transfected into the cells using Lipofectamine® 2000) according to manufacturer's instructions. Antibody concentration in the supernatant of transfected cells is measured during the production using Octct®RED96. According to antibody concentration, supernatants are harvested 5 to 7 days after transfection and clarified by centrifugation at 1300 g for 10 min. The purification process is composed of three affinity steps. First, the CaptureSelect™ FcXL affinity matrix (Thermofisher Scientific) is washed with PBS and then added in the clarified supernatant. After incubation overnight at +4° C., supernatants are centrifuged at 2000 g for 10 min, flow through is stored and resin washed twice with PBS. Then, the resin is transferred on Amicon Pro columns and a solution containing 50 mM glycine at pH 3.0 is used for elution. Several elution fractions are generated, pooled and desalted against PBS using 50 kDa Amicon™ Ultra Centrifugal filter units (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany). The elueted product, containing total human IgGs from the supernatant, is quantified using a NanoDrop™ spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, Wilmington, Del.) and incubated for 15 min at RT and rpm with the appropriate volume of KappaSelect affinity matrix (GE Healthcare). Incubation, resin recovery, elution and desalting steps are performed as described previously. The last affinity purification step is performed using the lambda FabSelect affinity matrix (GE Healthcare) applying the same process as for the two previous purifications. The final product is quantified using the Nanodrop. Purified bispecific antibodies are analyzed by electrophoresis in denaturing and reducing conditions. The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer is used with the Protein 80 kit as described by the manufacturer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif., USA). 4 μL of purified samples are mixed with sample buffer supplemented with dithiothreitol (DTT; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.). Samples are heated at 95° C. for 5 min and then loaded on the chip. All samples are tested for endotoxin contamination using the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test (LAL; Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, Mass.).
Example 8: Characterization of Monovalent and Bispecific Antibodies
(234) a) Dual-Targeting Bispecific Antibodies Bind to Two Different Antigens on the Surface of the Same Cell.
(235) According to the knowledge of the inventors simultaneous binding of the two antibody arms to two antigens on the surface of the cell (termed co-engagement) may result in additive or synergistic increase of affinity due to avidity mechanism. As a consequence, co-engagement confers high selectivity towards cells expressing both antigens as compared to cells that express just one single antigen. In addition, the affinities of the two arms of a bispecific antibody to their respective targets can be set up in a way that binding to target cells is principally driven by one of the antibody arms. For instance, a dual targeting κλ antibody composed of one arm binding with high affinity to CEACAM5 or to CEACAM5 and CEACAM6, and a second arm binding with lower affinity to CD47-but sufficient to inhibit CD47/SIRPα upon CEACAM5 or CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 co-engagement with CD47 should allow preferential inhibition of CD47 in cancer versus normal cells.
(236) b) Affinity Measurement to Human CD47
(237) According to the knowledge of the inventors the binding affinity of the antibodies according to the invention to human CD47 can be evaluated by surface plasmon resonance technology using a Biacore® T200 instrument. The biotinylated human CD47 soluble recombinant protein can be captured on a streptavidin coated sensor chip (Series S Sensor Chip SA). Then a concentration series of the test antibody can be injected over the surface, with regeneration of the surface between each injection.
(238) Such measurements were performed with a CD19×CD47 κλ bispecific antibody. The binding affinity measured in repeated determinations was between 400 and 500 nM. The CD47 binding arm of this antibody is the same as the CD47 binding arm of the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies of this invention. According to the knowledge of the inventors that same experiments performed with the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies of the invention will provide similar results within the standard deviation of such experiments.
(239) c) SIRPα Blocking Activity of Monovalent and Bispecific Antibodies to Demonstrate Co-Engagement of CEACAM5 and CD47 on Surface of Target Tumor Cells
(240) According to the knowledge of the inventors another series of experiments can be performed which can provide a proof of co-engagement of TAA (like CEACAM5) and CD47 on the surface of the target cell are experiments showing that the neutralization of CD47-SIRPα interaction by CD47×CEACAM5 κλ antibodies is CEACAM5 dependent. In such experiments, the activity of CD47× CEACAM5 κλ bodies and the corresponding monovalent antibodies can be tested in the CD47-SIRPα inhibition assay.
(241) d) SIRPα Blocking Activity of CD47 Antibodies
(242) Experimental set-up for the measurement of the SIRPα inhibition potency data shown for bispecific antibodies of this invention (results see table 2):
(243) The detection of bound SIRPα cell-based assay monitoring the interaction of soluble SIRPα with human CD47 expressed at the surface of MKN45 is used for the detection of the blocking activity. Dose-response experiments with bispecific antibodies according to the invention allow determination of an IC50 value.
(244) MKN45 cancer cells, expressing both CD47 and CEACAM5, are stained with CFSE violet to allow the imaging system (CX5) to detect the cells. Briefly, 3′000 stained MKN45 cells per well are seeded in a 384 optical well plate (Costar) and incubated for 50 minutes with increased concentrations of bispecific antibodies of the invention (1.9 pM to 333 nM, in quadruplicates). Then, a fixe concentration of SIRPα-mouseFc premixed with anti-mouse IgG-Fc AF647 coupled antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch diluted 1:2000) is added at 50 ng/mL final. After an incubation of 3H30 plates are acquired with the imaging system (CX5, Thermofisher) and fluorescence signals emitted by the detected bound SIRPα is recorded by the software dedicated to the imaging system. Fluorescence signals are plotted according to the dose range tested and IC50 are calculated by the software (Prism, Graphpad).
(245) Table 2 shows the potency of several CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies at inhibiting CD47/SIRPα binding displaying a range of IC50, from 0.22 nM to 7 nM.
(246) e) Epitope Binning of CEACAM5 Antibodies by Competition with Reference Antibodies
(247) Epitope binning is a competitive immunoassay used to characterize the binding of antibodies according to the invention or e.g. the binding of the related anti-CEA (target protein) antibodies of the first binding part. A competitive blocking profile of an antibody binding to the target protein is created against antibodies also binding to this target protein and for which the binding epitope has already been established/published. Competition to one of these reference antibodies indicate that the antibody has the same or a closely located epitope and they are “binned” together. The ability of CEACAM5 mAbs, which are part of the bispecific antibodies of the present invention to compete with CEACAM5 reference antibodies is tested by ELISA on recombinant human CEACAM5 with the following reference antibodies carrying a mouse Fc region: SM3E, sequences of mAb derived from SM3E described in patent US20050147614A1, mAb produced using standard methods; MEDI, mAb derived from MEDI-565 described in patent WO2016036678A1; SAR, mAb derived from Mab2_VLg5VHg2 described in patent EP3199552A1; CH1A1A, mAb derived from CH1A1A-2F1 described in patent US20120251529 and by Klein et al in Oncoimmunology, 2017 Jan. 11; 6(3); humanized T84.66 mAb derived from variant 1 described in patent WO2017055389; LAB mAb derived from hMN14 described in patent US 2002/0165360 A1. SM3E binds e.g. more to the N-terminal, cell membrane distal part of CEA, MEDI to the middle part and CH1A1A binds close to the membrane.
(248) Biotinylated human CEACAM5 is coated at 0.5 μg/ml in a Streptavidin-coated 96-well plate and incubated with 10 μg/ml of the reference mAbs or an irrelevant mAb carrying a mouse Fc region for 1 hour. The CEACAM5 mAbs (as bivalent monoclonal anti-CEA antibodies and not as respective CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies) are added at 0.2 μg/ml for 1 hour at room temperature. The plate is washed and the bound CEACAM5 mAbs are detected with an anti-human IgG(Fc)-HRP (Jackson ImmunoResearch). After washing, the plate is revealed with Amplex Red reagent. The fluorescence signal is measured on a Synergy HT plate reader (Biotek™).
(249) Results are shown in table 2. Bin 1 means that the respective antibody competes with SM3E for binding to CEACAM5. Bin 2 means, that the respective antibody does not compete with any of the tool antibodies mentioned above. The competition experiments were for all of the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies listed in Table 2 performed with the respective anti-CEA bivalent monoclonal antibodies. In case binding of such a monoclonal antibody to CEACAM5 was reduced by the respective tool antibody by 80% or more, it was concluded that the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibody is classified to bind competitively with the tool antibody. A CEA×CD47 antibody is identified as non-competitive with a tool antibody in case binding of the respective anti-CEA bivalent mAb to CEACAM5 is reduced by 20% or less if the results with and w/o addition of a tool antibody are compared.
(250) Bin 1: K2AC13, K2AC18, K2AC23, K2AC27, K2AC29
(251) Bin 2: K2AC10, K2AC25, K2AC28 K2AC26
(252) Results for Bin characterization, EC50 values of binding to CEA, SIRPα inhibition potency, and EC50 as well as maximal. index of phagocytosis for bispecific antibodies according to the invention are shown in tables 2, 3 and 4
(253) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 In vitro characteristics of CEAxCD47 bispecific antibodies SIRPα EC50 inhibition Antibody Bins binding potency name characterization (nM).sup.# (nM).sup.# K2AC5 Bin 1 11.3 0.4 K2AC10 Bin 2 1.15 0.22 K2AC13 Bin 1 190 4 K2AC18 Bin 1 131.8 7 K2AC22 Bin 1 16.5 0.37 K2AC23 Bin 1 76.8 1.6 K2AC25 Bin 2 13 0.22 K2AC26 Bin 1 12.7 0.32 K2AC27 Bin 1 12.5 0.86 K2AC28 Bin 2 52.5 0.95 K2AC29 Bin 1 14.5 0.72 .sup.#using MKN45 CEA.sup.+ cancer cells
(254) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 In vitro functional activity CEAxCD47 bispecific antibodies* Antibody EC50 Max index of name (μg/mL) phagocytosis K2AC5 0.44 59 (±4.2) K2AC22 0.19 69 K2AC23 0.68 67.5 (±2.1) K2AC25 1.54 48 (±1.4) K2AC26 >9.9 46 (±9.9) K2AC27 >11.7 47 (±1.4) K2AC28 >19.8 32.5 (±0.7) K2AC29 >4.4 42 (±5.6)
(255) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 EC50 and maximum index of phagocytosis for two CD47xCEA bispecific antibodies in presence or not of 1 mg/mL of hIgG1 using MKN45 cells. EC50 EC50 Max. Max. phagocytosis phagocytosis Phagocytosis Phagocytosis (μg/mL) - (μg/mL) - Index - Index - Antibody w/o with w/o with name hIgG1 hIgG1 hIgG1 hIgG1 K2AC5 0.16 0.44 67 (±5.7) 77 (±1.4) K2AC22 0.25 0.45 85 (±4.2) 92.5 (±3.5) 5F9 hIgG4 0.15 0.62 54 (±1.4) 31 (±2.8) max. = maximum; max. index phagocytosis assessed at 10 μg/ml; .sup.#using MKN45 CEA.sup.+ cancer cells
(256) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 EC50 binding on human CEACAM5 or human CEACAM6 by ELISA using recombinant proteins by ELISA. Antibody EC50 binding to EC50 binding to name CEACAM5 CEACAM6 AC22 0.015 No binding AC39 0.22 0.17
f) Binding of Anti-CEA Antibodies to Human CEACAM5 and Human CEACAM6
(257) Biotinylated recombinant human CEACAM5 or CEACAM6 proteins are captured at 0.5 μg/mL in a streptavidin coated 96-well microplate. The plate is washed and monoclonal anti-CEA bivalent antibodies of the present invention are added as a broad concentration-range (e.g. from 5×10.sup.−4 to 1 μg/mL) and incubated during 1 hr. The plate is washed and bound antibodies are detected with an anti-human IgG(Fc)-HRP (Jackson ImmunoResearch). After washing, the plate is revealed with Amplex™ Red reagent (Molecular Probes). The fluorescence signal is measured on a Synergy HT plate reader (Biotek™).
(258) Results obtained for the monoclonal antibody AC39 are contained in table 5; this antibody shows balanced CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 binding, that means EC50 for binding to CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 are similar (range of the ratio of the EC50 for CEACAM5 binding to CEACAM6 binding of balanced antibodies from 0.33 to 3). Antibodies with a ratio outside this range are considered as not balanced.
Example 9: ADCC and ADCP Mediated by Bispecific Antibodies
(259) a) ADCP and ADCC Mediated by TAA×CD47 Bispecific Antibodies is TAA Dependent
(260) The ability of dual targeting TAA×CD47 κλ antibodies to co-engage CD47 and TAA results in a significant increase in the affinity of binding to TAA-positive cells as compared to TAA-negative cells and in TAA-dependent neutralization of the CD47-SIRPα interaction. This, in turn, could translate into efficient and selective cancer cell killing mediated by CEA×CD47 κλ antibodies.
(261) Results as demonstrated from ADCP experiments (flow cytometry based assay) shown in
(262) b) Cr51.sup.+ Release Assay, Measured with TAA×CD47 Antibodies
(263) Healthy PBMC were activated overnight at 37° C. with RPMI/10% heat inactivated FCS supplemented with 10 ng/mL of recombinant hIL-2. The next day, targets cells (i.e. cancer cells expressing the TAA) were incubated with 100 μCi Cr51 (Perkin Elmer, 37° C., 1 h). After washing, cells were opsonized with test antibodies (30 min, 37° C.). Cr51-loaded cancer cells were then mixed with PBMC cells to obtain the final 80:1 or 50:1 ratio between effector (PBMC) and target cells (TAA-expressing cells). The cell mixture was incubated for 4 h at 37° C. before being centrifuged for 10 min at 1500 rpm. Supernatant was transferred into a LumaPlate™ (coated with scintillant) and counted in a γ-counter. Negative controls (spontaneous Cr51 release) consisted of Cr51-loaded target cells incubated with medium in the absence of effector cells. Total lysis control consisted of Cr51-loaded target cells incubated with 5 μL of cell lysis solution (Triton™ X-100). Nonspecific lysis control (baseline) consisted of Cr51-loaded target cells incubated with effector cells, without Ab. The ADCC percentage was calculated using the following formula: % specific ADCC=((sample counts per minute (cpm)−nonspecific lysis control cpm)/(total lysis control cpm−negative control cpm))×100%.
(264)
(265) c) ADCC Measured by LDH Release Assay
(266) ADCC of the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies was tested in the following assay: Healthy PBMC were activated overnight at 37° C. with RPMI/10% heat inactivated FCS supplemented with 10 ng/mL of recombinant hIL-2. The next day, target cells (e.g. MKN45 cancer cells) are opsonized with different concentrations of tested antibodies. The PBMCs and the opsonized target cells are co-incubated at a ratio effector/target 50/1 in round bottom plates for 6 hours at 37° c. in a cell culture incubator. After this incubation, supernatants are transferred into optical flat bottom plate and the LDH release is quantified with a commercial kit from Roche by measuring OD with a microplate reader. The % of specific lysis is calculated with the following formula:
(267)
(268)
(269) d) ADCP Assay
(270) Two methods are used. In the FACS based method the percentage of phagocytosis (representing the percentage of macrophages which have engulfed at least one tumor cell) is determined.
(271) e) Phagocytosis Assays: 1. Imaging Assay Based on CellInsight CX5 High Content Screening Platform and 2. Flow Cytometry Based Assay
(272) Preparation of the macrophages: Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are isolated from buffy coats by Ficoll gradient. Macrophages are generated by culturing PBMCs for 7 days in complete medium (RPMI 1640, 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum [Invitrogen]), 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 10 mM HEPES buffer, 25 mg/mL gentamicin (all from Sigma-Aldrich), and 50 mM 2-mercaptoethanol (Thermo Fisher Scientific) in the presence of 20 ng/mL of human macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) (PeproTech). Non-adherent cells are subsequently eliminated in the differentiation phase (day +1) by exchanging the cell culture medium, and adherent cells representing macrophages are detached using cell dissociation buffer (Sigma-Aldrich) and washed in complete medium the day of use (day 8 or day 9) for ADCP experiment based on cytometry. For ADCP based on cell imaging, macrophages are detached at day 6 using cell dissociation buffer and seeded at 30′000 per well in 96 optical plate (costar).
(273) 1. CellInsight™ Based Assay
(274) Macrophages (stained with calcein red orange) adhering to microplate wells are co-incubated with Calccin AM-labeled target tumor cells at an effector:target cells ratio of 1:3 for 2.5 hours at 37 degree C. in the presence of different concentrations of the to be tested antibody. At the end of the incubation period, supernatants are replaced by complete culture medium and the microplates are imaged with the CellInsight™ CX5 High Content Screening Platform. 1500 macrophages are acquired and analyzed per well. Phagocytosis is evidenced as double-positive events (macrophage+target tumor cell) and the phagocytosis indexes are calculated by the CellInsight™ manufacturers' software.
(275) All the results in the
(276) All ADCP (phagocytosis) values, ranges and the like in the present invention are based on the imaging based assay if not otherwise and explicitly stated (data in
(277) 2. Flow Cytometry Based ADCP Assay
(278) According to the knowledge of the inventors ADCP can also be measured by a method as described as follows: The macrophages are co-incubated with CSFE-labeled target tumor cells (e.g. MKN-45, LS174T or HPAC tumor cells) at an effector:target cells ratio of e.g. 3:1 for 2.5 hours at 37 degree C. in the presence of different concentrations of to be tested antibody. At the end of the incubation period, biotinylated anti-human CD14 antibody and Strep-Cy5 are added to label the macrophages. The cells are then washed and subjected to flow cytometry analysis. Phagocytosis is evidenced by double-positive events CD14+ and CFSE+. Percentage of phagocytosis is presented as the ratio between CD14+/CSFE+ double positive events and total target cells multiplied by 100. The data in
Example 10: Binding of CEA×CD47 and CEA×CD3 to MNK-45 Cells; Competition of Binding with CEA×CD3
(279) a) The binding of CD47×CEACAM5 bispecific antibody is tested on e.g. CEA-expressing human gastric adenocarcinoma cells (MKN-45, DSMZ ACC 409).
(280) Cells are harvested, counted, checked for viability and resuspended at 3×10.sup.6 cells/ml in FACS buffer (PBS 2% BSA, 0.1% NaN3). 100 μl of the cell suspension are distributed in V-bottom 96-well plates (3×10.sup.5 cells/well). The supernatant is removed by centrifugation 3 minutes at 4° C., 1300 rpm. Increasing concentrations of the antibody according to the invention are then added into the wells and incubated for 15 minutes at 4° C. Cells are washed twice with cold FACS buffer and re-incubated for further 15 minutes at 4° C. with the PE (R-phycoerythrin)-conjugated mouse anti-human IgG Fc secondary antibody (SouthernBiotech, pre-diluted 1:100 in FACS buffer). Cells are washed twice with cold FACS buffer and resuspended in 300 μl FACS buffer with 1:15000-diluted Sytox™Blue (Life Technologies). Fluorescence is measured using a Cytoflex (Millipore). Binding curves and EC50 values are obtained and calculated using GraphPad Prism™7 software. In the same manner binding of MAB CEA or MAB CEA1 to MKN-45 cells can be tested.
(281) b) Shift of binding curve of a CEA×CD47 antibody to CEA positive tumor cell-line (MKN-45) by addition of a CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody.
(282) According to the knowledge of the inventors for competition experiments of CD47×CEACAM5 bispecific antibody according to the invention and CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibodies like CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1, the binding of the CEACAM5×CD47 to MKN-45 cells can be determined as described above, but with and w/o addition of the CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody to study if a CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody as combination partner for the CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies of this invention is competitive for binding to CEA or not.
Example 11: Production and Purification of Fucosylated and Afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 Bispecific Antibodies
(283) Production of Fucosylated and Afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 Bispecific Antibodies:
(284) CHO pool (one for K2AC5 and one for K2AC22) is inoculated at a viable cell concentration of 0.3×10.sup.6 cells/mL in a Thomson erlen device with a working volume of 700 mL or 100 mL for the production of fucosylated and afucosylated antibodies, respectively. All the pools are operated in a 15 days duration fed-batch mode using CDACF medium CDCHO and an adapted feeding regime. For the production of afucosylated antibodies, bolus of 200 nM fucose inhibitor (1,3,4-Tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-L-fucose) are added at day 0, 5, 8 and 11 during the fed batch process based on afucosylation strategy described by Rillahan et al. Nature Chem. Biol. 2012 July; 8(7):661-8 and based on EP2282773. Harvest of the K2AC5 and K2AC22 pools supernatants containing fucosylated or afucosylated antibodies is performed after 15 days of Fed batch culture. Harvests of CHO pools supernatants are clarified using the Sartoclear Dynamics® Lab V Cell Harvesting Sartorius system (see supplier instructions).
(285) Purification of Fucosylated and Afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 Bispecific Antibodies
(286) Purification of fucosylated and afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 bispecific antibodies is a three affinity step purification process. Before starting purification, antibody concentration in the supernatant of K2AC5 and K2AC 22 pools is measured using OctetRED®96 in order to use columns with appropriate volume of affinity matrix. Each clarified CHO pool supernatant containing fucosylated or afucosylated bispecific antibodies, is loaded onto a MabSelect™ SuRe™ (MSS) column (GE Healthcare) without prior adjustment, to remove a major part of cell culture contaminants. The MSS eluate is then treated by low pH hold to inactivate viruses, and neutralized at pH 6 with Tris 1M pH9. The MSS eluate's is then loaded onto the LambdaFabSelect™ (LFS) column (GE Healthcare) to remove monospecific κ (mono κ). The LFS eluate is then pH adjusted at pH 6. The LFS is loaded onto the Capto L (CL) column (GE Healthcare) to remove monospecific λ (mono λ). The CL Eluate is pH adjusted before storage. The final material is then concentrated and diafiltered into the final formulation buffer, its concentration adjusted using the Nanodrop. Fucosylated and afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 bispecific antibodies are aliquoted and stored at −80° C. until delivery. Purified bispecific antibodies are analyzed for sizing by electrophoresis in denaturing and reducing conditions with the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer using the Protein 80 kit as described by the manufacturer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif., USA). Aggregation level is assessed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC-UPLC) using the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class Bio System (Waters™). Charge variant analysis of purified bispecific antibodies is achieved by isoelectric focusing technique (IEF) using the Multiphor™ II Electrophoresis System (GE Healthcare). The relative distribution of N-linked complex biantennary glycoforms of fucosylated and afucosylated K2AC5 and K2AC22 antibodies is determined using the throughput microchip-CE method on the LabChip® GXII Touch (Perkin Elmer).
(287) All antibodies are tested for endotoxin contamination using the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test (LAL; Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, Mass.). Glycoengineered K2AC5 shows an afucosylation of 79.68% and glycoengineered K2AC22 shows an afucosylation of 89.13%.
(288) These afucosylated CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies have been used to obtain the results shown in
Example 12: Expression and Purification in FUT8(-) Cell Line
(289) Alternatively, and according to the knowledge of the inventors, afucosylated bispecific antibodies according to the invention can be produced also according to the method as follows:
(290) Material and Methods are according to Naoko Yamane-Ohnuki et al., Biotech. Bioeng.; 87 (2004) 614-622.
(291) Isolation of Chinese Hamster FUT8 cDNA
(292) Total RNA is isolated from CHO/DG44 cells using the RNeasy® Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and reverse transcribed with oligo-dT using a Superscript first-strand synthesis system for reverse transcript-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.). A Chinese hamster FUT8 cDNA is amplified from single-stranded CHO/DG44 cell cDNAs by PCR using primers 5V-GTCTGAAGCATTATGTGTTGAAGC-3V (SEQ ID NO:14) and 5V-GTGAGTACATTCATTGTACTGTG-3V (SEQ ID NO:15), designed from the murine FUT8 cDNA (Hayashi, 2000; DNA Seq 11:91-96).
(293) Targeting Construct of FUT8 Locus
(294) The targeted disruption of the FUT8 gene in CHO/DG44 cells is carried out using two replacement vectors, pKOFUT8Neo and pKOFUT8Puro. The 9.0-kb fragment of the FUT8 gene including the first coding exon is isolated by screening the CHO-K1 cell E-genomic library (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) with the Chinese hamster FUT8 cDNA as a probe to establish the targeting constructs. A 234-bp segment containing the translation initiation site is replaced with the neomycin-resistance gene (Neor) cassette or the puromycin-resistance gene (Puror) cassette from plasmid pKOSelectNeo or pKOSelectPuro (Lexicon, Tex.), respectively, flanked by loxP sites. The diphtheria toxin gene (DT) cassette from plasmid pKOSelectDT (Lexicon) is inserted at the 5V homologous region. The resulting targeting constructs, pKOFUT8Neo and pKOFUT8Puro, included the 1.5-kb 5V homologous sequence and the 5.3-kb 3V homologous sequence. Before transfection, the targeting constructs are linearized at a unique SalI site.
(295) Transfection and Screening for Homologous Recombinants
(296) Subconfluent CHO/DG44 cells (1.6 106) are electroporated with 4 Ag of linearized pKOFUT8Neo at 350 V and 250 AF using a Bio-Rad GenePulser® II. After electroporation, transfectants are selected with 600 Ag/mL G418 (Nacalai Tesque, Kyoto, Japan). Genomic PCR is performed in 96-well plates by the modified microextraction method reported previously (Ramirez-Solis et al., 1992; Anal Biochem 201:331-335) using the following primers:
(297) TABLE-US-00006 (SEQ ID NO: 16) 5V-TTGTGTGACTCTTAACTCTCAGAG-3V and (SEQ ID NO: 17) 5V-GAGGCCACTTGTGTAGCGCCAAGTG-3V.
(298) Homologous recombinants are identified by the 1.7-kb fragment obtained using genomic PCR and confirmed by Southern blot analysis using the 221-bp fragment amplified with the following primers:
(299) TABLE-US-00007 (SEQ ID NO: 218) 5V-GTGAGTCCATGGCTGTCACTG-3V and (SEQ ID NO: 19) 5V-CCTGACTTGGCTATTCTCAG-3V.
(300) The hemizygous clone is subject to a second round of homologous recombination using linearized pKOFUT8Puro and drug selection with 15 Ag/mL puromycin (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.) as described earlier. The identified homozygous disruptants are electroporated with the Cre-recombinase expression vector pBS185 (Invitrogen) to remove drug-resistance gene cassettes from both FUT8 alleles.
(301) Monoclonal Antibody Production by FUT8(-) Cells
(302) FUT8(-) cell lines are electroporated with an expression vector encoding an bispecific antibody according to the invention and selected in media lacking hypoxanthine and thymidine. The confluent transfectants are cultured in Ex-Cell® 301 Medium (JRH Biosciences, Lenexa, Kans.) for 1 week. The antibody is purified from culture supernatants using MabSelect™ (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, N.J.). Further purification steps can be anion/cation exchange chromatography, size exclusion chromatography and especially purification using kappa respectively lambda selective resins as described above.
Example 13: In Vivo Antitumor Activity of Bispecific Antibodies
(303) According to the knowledge of the inventors the anti-tumor activity of a bispecific antibody according to the invention can be evaluated in Xenograft models, e.g. by the following model: 1 or 2×10.sup.6 CEA positive tumor cells like MKN-45 or LS174T cells are implanted subcutaneously in NOD/SCID mice. Tumor volumes are measured 3 times per week. After the tumor graft reached approx. 0.1 cm.sup.3, mice are randomized into groups (e.g. 4 to 6 mice per group) and the antibody treatment is initiated. This experiment could e.g. compare the effect of the bispecific antibody according to the invention and positive control Mabs, e.g. the CD47 Mab B6H12.2 Antibody is injected e.g. i.v. every week until the end of the experiment (d25). Antibodies are administered at e.g. 50 to 1200 μg per mouse per injection. Combinations of a bispecific antibody of this invention with a CEA×CD3 bispecific antibody can be tested in an appropriate model. Models, in which the combination of an antibody according to the invention together with MAB CEA, MAB CEA1 or CEA-TCB CEA-TCB1 can be tested, are e.g. described by Bacac et al (Clin. Cancer Res., 22(13); 3286-97; 2016) and are also used, especially for combination studies of CEACAM5×CD47 and CEA-TCB or CEA-TCB1.
Example 14: Cytokine Release Tested in Whole Blood and PBMCs from Healthy Human Donors Human Blood
(304) According to the knowledge of the inventors an in vitro cytokine release assay can be performed using whole blood (WB CRA) with minimal dilution by the test antibodies (95% v/v blood) in aqueous presentation. This assay format is considered to mimic more closely the in vivo environment, containing factors at physiological concentrations that may influence mechanisms of cytokine release. However, this format is thought to be poorly predictive of T cell-mediated cytokine release (e.g., anti-CD28).
(305) The assay can be also performed using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy human donors and with an immobilized mAb (Solid Phase, SP) presentation to assess T cell-mediated cytokine release (PBMC SP CRA). This assay format simulates cross-linking and high density presentation of mAbs, which may occur in vivo (e.g. clustering of the target via the interaction of the Fc part of the antibody with Fcγ receptors on other immune cells or the cross-linking of mAbs by anti-drug antibodies). This format is predictive of T cell-mediated cytokine release.
(306) Negative controls as well as specific positive controls for each assay format can be tested in parallel to a TAA×CD47 antibody like a CD47×CEA bispecific antibody. see
Example 15: Antibody Binding to Erythrocytes, Phagocytosis of Erythrocytes, and Platelet Activation and Aggregation
(307) Whole Blood Binding
(308) According to the knowledge of the inventors human whole blood samples collected from healthy donors in citrate can be mixed with 3 μg/mL of AF488-coupled CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies of this invention, B6H12.2 or isotype control and surface staining antibodies (PE-Cy7 anti-hCD45 and PE anti-hCD41a, for platelets only) for 30 min at 4° C. After the incubation, whole blood is divided in two samples: 5 μL are diluted and washed in PBS for erythrocyte analysis while 150 μL are incubated with erythrocyte lysing solution and washed for platelet analysis. Samples are acquired on a CytoFLEX instrument and analyzed with the FlowJo software to determine MFI values.
(309) Erythrophagocytosis
(310) According to the knowledge of the inventors human red blood cells (RBCs) can be isolated from human whole blood by centrifugation at 300×g, washed twice in PBS, labeled with CFSE-(Carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester) and pre-incubated with the test antibody for 1 hour at 37° C. before the addition of macrophages. Labeled RBCs can be cultured with human macrophages in the presence of an antibody according to the invention or control (non-binding IgG1 antibody) for one hour at a target-to-effector ratio of 200:1. After culture, cells are stained with anti-CD14-APC and analyzed by flow cytometry. Phagocytosis was quantitated as the percent of CD14+ events (macrophages) that are also CFSE+ and had therefore engulfed at least one RBC (events are gated on singlets). Phagocytosis and FACS analysis is done as described in example 9, except that the erythrocytes were lysed with FACS lysing solution after macrophage staining.
(311)
(312) In Vitro Platelet Activation and Aggregation
(313) In a standard flow cytometry experiment the ability of TAA×CD47 and CEA×CD47 bispecific antibodies to induce human platelet activation in whole blood of seven human healthy donors was measured by the upregulation of surface marker CD62P. Briefly, 5 μL of whole blood is incubated with 10 μL of each sample (prepared at 2×) for 15 minutes at room temperature. Each tested antibody is added at different concentrations (0, 0.02, 0.2, 2, 20 and 200 μg/mL). Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and anti-CD9 (ALB6), included as positive control reagents known to induce platelet activation, are added at a concentration of 10 μM and 10 μg/mL, respectively. Then, 10 μL of anti-CD41a-PE and 10 μL of anti-CD62P-APC were added and incubated for 15 min. in the dark at room temperature. Finally, 500 μL of CellFix (BD Biosciences, diluted 1/10 in water) were added and 200 μL of each sample is transferred in a U-bottom 96-well plate suitable for CytoFLEX acquisition. Platelets are identified by the CD41a-PE positive staining. Platelet activation is assessed by the expression of CD62P marker.
(314)
(315) Also the CEA×CD47 antibodies K2AC5 and K2AC22 (with and without afucosylation) have been studied in the concentration range as shown in
(316) According to the knowledge of the inventors, the potential for aggregation in the presence of CD47/CEA bispecific antibody could be assessed on platelet rich plasma (PRP). PRP is challenged with ADP at 10 μM and 5 μM or with the test articles at 200, 100, 20, 25, and 12.5 μg/mL, as well as with saline or the isotype control. Platelet aggregation can be evaluated throughout platelet stimulation (i.e. 10 min) with a Thrombo-aggregometer TA 4V under constant stirring. Thrombosoft 1.6 software (SD Innovation, Frouard, France) can be used for analysis of the data.
Example 16: Hematology Assessment in Cynomolgus Examples
(317) According to the knowledge of the inventors cynomolgus monkey cross-reactive antibodies could be tested in vivo in Cynomolgus Monkeys for any effect on hematology parameters (including RBC and platelets). An antibody according to the invention is e.g. given to cynomolgus monkeys per intravenous route, at doses up to 100 mg/kg, on a weekly basis. Hematology parameters, including red blood cell and platelet counts, are monitored over time and compared to control values in monkeys (pre-dose values). Hematology parameters are determined by routine methods.
(318) Results in
Example 17: Determination of Pharmacokinetics Properties in Cynomolgus Monkeys
(319) According to the knowledge of the inventors in single dose pharmacokinetic studies, animals can be randomized to 2 to 5 treatment groups of n=2 to 4 monkeys per group (including males and females). Animals are administered with single IV doses of the bispecific antibodies of this invention (infusion over 15 to 30 minutes). Doses in the treatment groups are ranging from 0.01 mg/kg to 100 mg/kg. Administration volumes are up to 5 mL/kg. Blood withdrawals are scheduled according to the experimental protocol at multiple time points, e,g, 0.25, 1, 4, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 168, 240, 336, 504 (day 22), 672 (day 29), 840 (day 36), 1008 (day 43), 1176 (day 50) and 1344 h (day 57) after the intravenous administration of the bispecific antibody. Blood samples of approximately 2 mL per animal and time-point are collected. Concentrations of the antibodies were either measured in serum or in plasma. An ELISA test is developed and validated to measure the concentrations. Each sample is measured in duplicates.
(320) From the concentration time curves PK parameters like Cmax, clearance, elimination half-life, area under the curve etc. can be determined by using industry standard software (Phoenix WinNonlin; non-compartmental analysis).
(321) Elimination half-lives of the CEA×CD47 kappa-lambda bispecific antibodies are expected to be in the range of 3 to 14 days, suggesting q1w or q2w or q3w or q4w administrations to patients.
Example 18: ADCP Mediated by Bispecific Antibodies in Presence of Shed CEA
(322) MKN45 cells used as target cells are stained with calcein AM. In parallel, concentrations of tested antibodies are incubated or not with a fixed dose (200 ng/mL) of commercial shed CEA (BioRad). After this incubation the stained MKN-45 are opsonized for 20 minutes at room temperature with the antibodies previously mixed with shed CEA. Then macrophages (stained with calcein red orange) adhering to microplate wells are co-incubated with the opsonized labeled target tumor cells at an effector:target cells ratio of 1:3 for 2.5 hours at 37° C. The ADCP is performed in a presence of 1 mg/mL of human IgG. At the end of the incubation period, supernatants are replaced by complete culture medium and the microplates are imaged with the CellInsight™ CX5 High Content Screening Platform. 1500 macrophages are acquired and analyzed per well. Phagocytosis is evidenced as double-positive events (macrophage+engulfed target tumor cell) and the phagocytosis indexes are calculated by the CellInsight™ manufacturers' software. Results are shown in
Example 19: ADCP Mediated by Bispecific Antibodies in Presence of CEA-TCB and CEA-TCB1
(323) Calcein AM-labeled MKN45 cells used as target cells are pre incubated or not with a fixed dose of CEA-TCB (300 nM) or CEA-TCB1 (30 nM) for 20 min at RT. After this incubation different concentrations of tested antibody are added in appropriate well for 20 min Then macrophages (stained with calcein red orange) adhering to microplate wells are co-incubated with the opsonized labeled target tumor cells at an effector:target cells ratio of 1:3 for 2.5 hours at 37° C. The ADCP is performed in a presence of 1 mg/mL of human hIgG. At the end of the incubation period, supernatants are replaced by complete culture medium and the microplates are imaged with the CellInsight™ CX5 High Content Screening Platform. 1500 macrophages are acquired and analyzed per well. Phagocytosis is evidenced as double-positive events (macrophage+engulfed target tumor cell) and the phagocytosis indexes are calculated by the CellInsight™ manufacturers' software.
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Example 20: Killing Assay by Combination of CD47×CEA and CEA×CD3
(325) Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from buffy coats. Part of these PBMCs were frozen in freezing medium (90% FCS 10% DMSO) (in order to be used as source of T cells) and part were used to prepare macrophages (as explained in Phagocytosis section). After 6 days of macrophage differentiation, cells were plated in 96 well-plates and incubated at 37° C. On the day of the assay (2 days after macrophage plating), frozen PBMCs from the corresponding macrophage donor were thawed and added to the macrophage plates. Target cells (MKN45 engineered to express Luciferase) were opsonized with a combination of antibodies, i.e. with a CEA×CD3 T-cell bispecific antibody at certain concentrations together with certain concentrations of of a CEA×CD47 bispecific antibody. Opsonized targets were added to the plates containing macrophages and autologous PBMCs; and the plates were incubated at 37° C. for 48 h. After 48 h, half of the well medium was removed and a solution of 2× Luciferin was added to the plates to obtain a final concentration of 150 μg/mL. After 5 minutes incubation at RT, plates were read using a Synergy NEO. Percentage of viability was calculated dividing the luminescence value (minus background) by the control containing only target cells and multiplying by 100. Percentage of killing was then extrapolated by subtracting the percentage of viability to 100.
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(327) All publications, patents, patent applications, internet sites, and accession numbers/database sequences including both polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety for all purposes to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent, patent application, internet site, or accession number/database sequence were specifically and individually indicated to be so incorporated by reference.