ANTI-TNF-alpha FULLY HUMAN MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES WITH LOW IMMUNOGENICITY AND APPLICATION THEREOF

Abstract

Disclosed herein are low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibodies which can inhibit the apopotosis of cells induced by TNF-α. The invented low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibodies are capable of binding to TNF-α specifically. The invention presents the human anti-TNF-α antibodies which bind to TNF-α with similar affinities as Adalimumab. Most importantly, the invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies showed reduced immunogenicities in vivo, which made them safer candidate for antibody drug and other biotherapy. The invention also features method of de-immunogenicity of antibody drugs by identification, replacement of high immunogenic FR sequence(s) of the human antibody with low immunogenic FR sequences from other human IgGs, and significantly reduce the risk of human anti-human immunogenicity and improve the efficacy of antibody drugs.

Claims

1. A low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibody comprising the CDR regions of heavy (SEQ ID NO.23) and light (SEQ ID NO.24) chains from human Adalimumab, and further comprising at least one modified amino acid sequence in the FR regions of Adalimumab.

2. The low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibody of claim 1, comprising any one of the human light chain amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs. 11-15 or 23, and any one of the human heavy chain amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs. 16-20.

3. The low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibody of claim 1, comprising the human light chain amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 13 and a human heavy chain amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 19.

4. One or more DNA sequences encoding the a low immunogenic human anti-TNF-α antibody comprising the CDR regions of heavy (SEQ ID NO.23) and light (SEQ ID NO.24) chains from human Adalimumab, and further comprising at least one modified amino acid sequence in the FR regions of Adalimumab.

5. An expression plasmid comprising the DNA Sequences claimed in claim 4.

6. A method for treating a disease in a human, the method comprising administering the antibody of claim 1 to the human, thereby targeting TNF-α.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of autoimmune and inflammation diseases.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

9. (canceled)

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

[0041] FIG. 1 Digestions of Plasmids. 1-a, double digestions of pJH16 plasmid with Kpn I and Age I. 1-b, double digestions of pJH16 with Kpn I and BamH I. 1-c, lane 1, double digestions of the heavy chain of Adailimumab. Lane 2, double digestions of the light chain of Adalimumab. M, the DNA markers.

[0042] FIG. 2 Sequence blasts the light chains of the modified vs the one of Adalimumab.

[0043] FIG. 3 Sequence blasts the heavy chains of the modified vs the one of Adalimumab.

[0044] FIG. 4 The EC50s of modified human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies.

[0045] FIG. 5 Inhibitions of TNF-α-induced cell toxicity in L929 cells by modified human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies.

[0046] FIG. 6 PK study of modified human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] It should be understood that the above-described embodiments and the following examples are given by way of illustration, not limitation. Various changes and modifications within the scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present description.

[0048] Unless specified, all the techniques used are common practices and can be performed by skilled personnel. All of the materials and reagents can be purchased commercially.

Example 1 Analysis and Modification of the Immunogenicity of the Sequences Adalimumab

[0049] Used a program to examine the sequences of Adalimumab and found that the immunogenicity score is 16.

[0050] Used the same software to study the immunogenicities of the FRs of Adalimumab, identified the sequences with high immunogenicities, and searched human antibody sequence database for potential human sequences with lower immunogenicity.

[0051] Replaced the high immunogenic sequences in Adalimumab with the low immunogenic ones, and designed 5 human light chains L1-L5 (SEQ ID No.1-5) and 5 human heavy chains h1-h5 (SEQ ID No.6-10) for fully human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies.

[0052] Perform 3D structure modeling of the newly designed antibody sequences against the ones of Adalimumab using Pymol program to identify the ones with closest resembling of the original antibody.

[0053] Fully human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies can be any combination of one light chain from any one of L0-L5 (SEQ ID No.1-5, 21) and one heavy chain from any one of h1-h5 (SEQ ID No.6-10).

Example 2 Construction of the Expression Plasmids of Fully Human Anti-TNF-α Monoclonal Antibodies

[0054] Added the restriction sites of Kpn I and BamH I to the light chain variable region sequences and the restriction sites of Kpn I and Age I to the heavy chain variable region sequences obtained in Example 1. All the variable region of the light and heavy chain sequences were inserted into the plasmids. Cut the heavy chain variable region sequences from the plasmids and inserted into the corresponding sites of the expression vector pJH16 using the restriction sites of Kpn I and Age I. Cut the light chain variable region sequences from the vector and inserted into the corresponding sites of the expression vector pJH16 using the restriction sites of Kpn I and BamH I, to obtain the fully human monoclonal antibody heavy and light chain expression plasmids. The plasmids and the expression vectors were subjected to enzyme digestions at 37 C overnight. Results of digestions of light chain, heavy chain, and the expression vectors are shown in FIG. 1. The bands of target genes and expression vectors were cut-out and extracted using Qiagen Gel Extraction Kit, then performed the ligations overnight using T4 DNA ligation system and transformed into E. coli DH5α. Colonies were picked for DNA sequencing and the alignments of sequencing data matched the designed gene 100%.

Example 3 Transient Expression and Purification of Fully Human Anti-TNF-α Monoclonal Antibodies

[0055] Extracted the plasmids from the transformed E. coli DH5α, as shown in Example 2, using the Ultrapure Plasmid Prep kit from Qiagen.

[0056] Co-transfected the 293F cells with different combinations of the human light and heavy chain expression plasmids using lipofecting reagents from Invitogen. Total 31 combinations tried.

[0057] The expression levels of human IgGs in the culture supernants were examined on Day 3 and the expression levels ranged between 423.5-2624 ng/ml.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Expression Levels of Human Antibodies (ng/ml) Comb. Conc. Comb. Conc. Comb. Conc. Comb. Conc. Comb. Conc. Comb. Conc. L0h1 1530 L1h1 1371 L2h1 1988 L3h1 2624 L4h1 810.7 L5h1 439.1 L0h2 11172 L1h2 487.6 L2h2 755.8 L3h2 1208 L4h2 1130 L5h2 423.5 L0h3 2021 L1h3 873.3 L2h3 662.2 L3h3 602.9 L4h3 2206 L5h3 797 L0h4 1109 L1h4 1257 L2h4 476 L3h4 1638 L4h4 1381 L5h4 475.9 L0h5 1408 L1h5 868 L2h5 677.7 L3h5 1282 L4h5 1423 L5h5 952.2 Adh010 1892 (Note: The table is a combination of different combinations of light and heavy chains. For example, L0h1 refers to the combination of light chain L0 from the adalimumab light chain variable region and the heavy chain h1 from a modified anti-TNF-α antibody.) Performed indirect ELISA against TNF-α coated on 96-well plate, and found some of them (L0h4, L3h4, L3h2, L4h4, etc) have strong signals as Adalimumab, and some of them lost the binding affinity (L0h2) (Data see Table 2)

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 ELISA Screening of Different Combinations against TNF-α Comb. L0h1 L0h2 L0h3 L0h4 L0h5 NC OD 2.158 2.182 0.057 0.054 0.68 0.768 3.339 3.133 1.03 0.873 0.09 0.059 Comb. L1h1 L1h2 L1h3 L1h4 L1h5 NC OD 1.926 2.401 2.268 2.459 1.413 1.431 2.621 2.552 0.824 1.051 0.045 0.057 Comb. L2h1 L2h2 L2h3 L2h4 L2h5 NC OD 1.891 2.384 2.802 2.704 0.709 0.973 2.235 2.848 0.894 1.255 0.047 0.051 Comb. L3h1 L3h2 L3h3 L3h4 L3h5 L0h0 Comb. 2.178 2.329 2.434 2.498 0.888 0.815 2.616 2.664 0.959 1.104 3.008 3.244 OD L4h1 L4h2 L4h3 L4h4 L4h5 L0h0 1.978 2.182 2.968 2.546 1.617 1.607 2.904 2.757 0.714 0.972 2.877 3.041 Comb. L5h1 L5h2 L5h3 L5h4 L5h5 L0h0 OD 0.864 1.583 1.857 1.821 1.366 1.404 1.528 1.643 0.885 0.903 2.926 3.172

Example 4 Stable Expression and Purification of Fully Human Anti-TNF-α Monoclonal Antibodies

[0058] Based on above data, 10 combinations were selected to develop stable cell lines for over-expression of human anti-TNF-α.

[0059] CHO cells was electro-transfected and selected under MTX pressure (purchased from Sigma) in the selective Opti-CHO medium (purchased from Invitrogen). Five selecting gradients were set as 50 nM, 100 nM, 200 nM, 400 nM and 800 nM. After each round, the expression levels of IgG in the culture supernatants on Day 7 were examined using Sandwich ELISA method. The results showed that stable expressions of IgGs were observed with all of the combinations but the levels were different (Table 3).

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 IgG Levels of different combinations at different stages opti-cho IgG 50 nM IgG 100 nM IgG Comb. (ng/ml) (ng/ml) (ng/ml) adh010 30 134 346 L3h2 92.7 122 237 L3h4 87.4 251 367 L5h2 30.8 129 452 L4h1 104 176 258 L4h2 127 318 523 L4h4 72.5 939 734 L1h3 97 160 270 L2h1 64 208.6 471 L0h4 30 389 598 L2h5 29.2 226 476

[0060] When the process was complete, limiting dilution was performed for monoclonal cloning. Cells were seeded at 96-well plate and cultured at 37° C. 5% CO.sub.2. 14 days later, 50 μl of supernatant was collected for antibody production testing using sandwich ELISA method. Clones with higher expressing levels were selected for further expansion.

[0061] Used a Protein-A affinity chromatography column to purify the human anti-TNF-α antibodies from the culture supernatants of the 11 stable cell lines. The concentrations of antibodies were determined by OD280/1.4. The purities of the antibodies were examined by SDS-PAGE analysis.

Example 5 Biological Activities of Human Anti-TNF-α Antibodies

[0062] 1. Affinities: The EC50s of the newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies were compared with the one of Adalimumab using Indirect ELISA. The wells of 96-well plates were coated with 300 ng/ml of TNF-α in PBS overnight at 4 C. After wash, the wells were blocked with 5% skim milk in PBS for 1 hour at room temperature. Various concentrations of antibodies diluted in 5% skim milk-PBS were added to the wells and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. After another wash, HRP-conjugated goat-anti-human IgG secondary antibodies were added and incubated for another 1 hour. After through wash, the substrates were added and the absorbances at 450 nm were measured. As shown in Table 4, some of the newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies have very similar EC50 as Adalimumab.

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 EC50s of human anti-TNF-α antibodies Comb. 10h4 12h1 13h2 13h4 14h1 14h2 14h4 adh010 EC50(nM) 0.37 0.43 0.40 0.34 0.47 0.60 0.69 0.49

[0063] 2. Specificities: The specificities of the newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies were examined by Indirect ELISA against TNF-α and other cytokines. The wells of 96-well plates were coated with 1000 ng/ml of rhTNF α, rhTNF β, rIFN γ, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-8 in PBS overnight at 4 C. After wash, the wells were blocked with 5% skim milk in PBS for 1 hour at room temperature. Different human anti-TNF-α antibodies diluted in 5% skim milk-PBS were added to the wells and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. After another wash, HRP-conjugated goat-anti-human IgG secondary antibodies were added and incubated for another 1 hour. After through wash, the substrates were added and the absorbances at 450 nm were measured. As shown in Table 5, all of the newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies are very specific for TNF-α.

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Specificities of human anti-TNF-α antibodies Ab Cytokine Adalimumab L0h4 L2h1 L3h2 L3h4 rTNFα 2.877 3.041 3.339 3.238 2.251 2.325 2.434 2.498 2.804 2.789 rTNFβ 0.097 0.089 0.058 0.064 0.081 0.082 0.071 0.065 0.064 0.071 rINFγ 0.082 0.078 0.062 0.068 0.065 0.071 0.057 0.068 0.068 0.065 IL-1α 0.059 0.065 0.080 0.072 0.057 0.062 0.064 0.072 0.072 0.077 IL-1β 0.067 0.058 0.059 0.068 0.063 0.071 0.059 0.073 0.068 0.063 IL-2 0.053 0.059 0.074 0.069 0.073 0.075 0.067 0.061 0.069 0.073 IL-4 0.049 0.05 0.055 0.049 0.072 0.069 0.078 0.069 0.059 0.062 IL-8 0.063 0.057 0.067 0.060 0.058 0.061 0.069 0.074 0.060 0.058 Ab Cytokine L4h1 L4h2 L4h4 NC NC rTNFα 2.018 2.121 2.754 2.802 2.826 2.855 0.054 0.051 0.044 0.051 rTNFβ 0.065 0.064 0.082 0.071 0.064 0.071 0.068 0.065 0.058 0.055 rINFγ 0.068 0.068 0.071 0.067 0.068 0.065 0.052 0.057 0.054 0.061 IL-1α 0.072 0.072 0.062 0.064 0.072 0.077 0.058 0.063 0.052 0.053 IL-1β 0.073 0.068 0.071 0.069 0.068 0.063 0.069 0.063 0.059 0.061 IL-2 0.061 0.069 0.075 0.067 0.069 0.073 0.049 0.052 0.059 0.062 IL-4 0.069 0.059 0.069 0.078 0.069 0.072 0.060 0.058 0.062 0.058 IL-8 0.074 0.060 0.061 0.069 0.060 0.058 0.064 0.051 0.054 0.057

[0064] 3. Inhibition of TNF-α Induced Apotosis.

[0065] L929 cells were seeded at 50,000 cells/well of 96-well plate in RPMI-1640-10% FBS and incubated at 37° C. 5% CO2. 4 hours later, discard the medium and added 100 μl/well of different concentrations of ADALIMUMAB or the invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies in RPMI-1640-10% FBS plus Actinomysin D 1 ug/ml at 37° C. 5% CO2. One day's later, the cell numbers in each well were determined by CKK assay.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 5, both ADALIMUMAB and the newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies could inhibit TNF-α induced apoptosis of L929 cells.

Example 6 Immunogenicity and PK in Mice

[0067] 1. Immunogenicity: Mice were injected with all 10 new human anti-TNF-α antibodies and Adalimumab with the adjuvant. 14 days' later, the tail bleeds were examined by ELISA against their antigens respectively. As shown in Table 6, the anti-drug antibody titers of some newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies were at least 5-time lower than the one of Adalimumab.

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 ADA Titers of human anti-TNF-α antibodies in mice Titers 1:500 1:1000 1:5000 1:10000 1:50000 NC Comb. L3h2 0.974 0.459 0.056 0.064 0.051 0.042 L3h4 0.676 0.385 0.044 0.043 0.046 0.046 L5h2 0.854 0.435 0.042 0.047 0.047 0.047 L4h1 0.699 0.311 0.054 0.058 0.047 0.045 L4h2 1.207 0.607 0.062 0.049 0.042 0.042 L4h4 0.713 0.379 0.059 0.048 0.048 0.047 L0h4 1.016 0.591 0.048 0.067 0.054 0.056 L1h3 1.156 0.548 0.043 0.080 0.053 0.055 L2h1 0.781 0.389 0.041 0.056 0.059 0.057 L2h5 0.802 0.410 0.032 0.066 0.053 0.047 L0h0 2.614 1.311 0.2614 0.144 0.131 0.144

[0068] 2. Pharmakintics: Mice were tail vent-injected with 125 I-labeled all 10 new human anti-TNF-α antibodies and Adalimumab (370 kBq, 2 μg), 5 mice per group. At various time points (5, 12, 30 min, 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 22, 34, 48, 72 h), the blood samples were collected and the radioactivities were measured. As shown in FIG. 6, the PK of newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies were similar or better than the one of Adalimumab.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

[0069] The invention features human anti-TNF-α antibodies which share the CDRs of the amino acid sequences from Adalimumab but with different FRs from other human IgGs. The newly invented human anti-TNF-α antibodies have the same specificities, similar affinities and inhibitory activities against TNF-α but much lower immunogenicities than Adalimumab. The invention also features method of de-immunogenicity of human antibodies by replacing the high immunogenic FR sequences with lower ones from other human IgGs without alter the activities of the antibody significantly. Reduced immunogenicity will significantly reduce the level of anti-drug antibody in the patients treated with anti-TNF-α drug, extend drug's half-life and increase the efficacy of the biological drugs.