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Engineering and Characterization of Tumor Antigen Affinity-Varying IgG-Fused Interleukin-12 Immunocytokines

초록/요약

Recently, many studies have attempted targeted delivery of IL-12 for improved exposure and tumor-homing abilities. However, poor tumor penetration and distribution make it difficult to stimulate the effector function of antitumor immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. In this study, I used an anti-HER2 antibody (Herceptin, HCT) as a model of a tumor targeting IgG antibody based on the template of the heterodimeric Fc (γ1/4, EW-RVT) fused to monovalent IL-12. To improve solid tumor penetration, four anti-HER2 affinity variants were constructed (KD values ranging from 0.54 nM to 217 nM) by mutating the HER2 binding paratope residues. Intriguingly, HCT/130-mono-mIL12 (KD = 130 nM) with HER2 affinities 240-fold lower than those of HCT/0.5-mono-mIL12 (KD = 0.54 nM) exhibited the most effective antitumor efficacy in CT26-HER2 tumor-bearing mice. In vitro tumor accumulation assays revealed that the HCT/130-mono-mIL12 was broadly distributed from blood vessels into tumor tissues. Furthermore, mechanistic studies indicated that the number of tumor-infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were increased following treatment of the HCT-mono-mIL12. Therefore, antitumor effects of the HCT-mono-mIL12 were CD4+ and CD8+ T cell-dependent, suggesting that it was mediated by IL-12. These results imply that low affinity tumor-targeting IgG-fused mIL12 in the monovalent format has the potential to boost antitumor effects of the immune system in the tumor microenvironment, and affinity for tumor antigen should be optimized for affective antitumor efficacy.

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초록/요약

최근 많은 연구들에서 IL-12의 종양에 대한 향상된 노출 및 종양으로의 유도를 위해 IL-12의 표적 전달이 시도되어왔다. 그러나, 부족한 종양 침투 및 분포는 종양 미세 환경 내에서 항종양 면역 세포의 효과기 기능을 자극하기 어렵게 만든다. 본 연구에서는 1가 IL-12가 융합된 이종이량체 Fc(γ1/4, EW-RVT)의 주형을 기반으로 하는 종양 표적화 IgG 항체의 모델로 항-HER2 항체(Herceptin, HCT)를 사용하였다. 고형 종양 침투를 개선하기 위해, HER2 결합 파라토프 잔기들을 돌연변이시켜 4개의 항-HER2 친화도 변이체(KD 값 범위 0.54 nM ~ 217 nM)를 구축하였다. 흥미롭게도, HCT/0.5-mono-mIL12(KD = 0.54 nM)보다 약 240배 낮은 HER2 친화도를 갖는 HCT/130-mono-mIL12(KD = 130 nM)는 CT26-HER2 종양을 가진 마우스에서 가장 효과적인 항종양 효능을 나타냈다. 종양 축적 분석 결과, HCT/130-mono-mIL12가 혈관으로부터 종양 조직으로 광범위하게 분포되어 있음이 밝혀졌다. 또한, 연구 결과에 따르면 HCT-mono-mIL12 치료 후 종양 침윤성 CD4+ 및 CD8+ T 세포의 수가 증가하였다. 따라서, HCT-mono-mIL12의 항종양 효과는 CD4+ 및 CD8+ T 세포 의존적이고, 이는 IL-12에 의해 매개됨을 시사한다. 이러한 결과는 낮은 친화도의 종양 표적화 IgG가 융합된 1가 형식의 mIL12가 종양 미세 환경에서 면역계의 항종양 효과를 향상시킬 가능성이 있으며, 종양 항원에 대한 친화도는 효과적인 항종양 효능을 위해 최적화되어야 함을 의미한다.

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목차

제1장 Introduction 1
제1절 Structure and function of interleukin-12 (IL-12) 1
제2절 IL-12 based Immunocytokines and the clinical trials 2
제3절 Binding site barrier 4
제2장 Materials and methods 5
제1절 Construction of expression plasmids 5
제2절 Expression and purification of Ab and immunocytokines 5
제3절 Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) Analysis 6
제4절 Biolayer interferometry (BLI) 7
제5절 Cell culture 7
제6절 Flow cytometry 8
제7절 Preparation and activation of PBMC 8
제8절 IL-12 Receptor binding assay 9
제9절 PBMC Proliferation assay 9
제10절 Mice 10
제11절 Tumor inoculation and treatment 10
제12절 Biodistribution imaging in vivo and ex vivo 11
제13절 Immunohistochemistry (IHC) 11
제14절 Statistical analysis 13
제3장 Results 14
제1절 Design and engineering of anti-HER2 affinity-varying HCT-mono-mIL12 14
제2절 Measurement of HER2 binding kinetics of HCT-mono-mIL12 17
제3절 In vitro biochemical and biological activities of HCT-mono-mIL12 20
제4절 Evaluation of tumor targeting ability of HCT-mono-mIL12 22
제5절 HCT-mono-mIL12 inhibits HER2-positive tumors than HER2-negative tumors in vivo 26
제6절 In vivo antitumor effect of HCT-mono-mIL12 varies depending on affinity against tumor antigen 29
제7절 Tumor tissue distribution of HCT-mono-mIL12 depends on the anti-HER2 binding kinetics 31
제8절 HCT-mono-mIL12 expands the number of CD4+ and CD8+ TILs in tumor tissue 33
제9절 Mathematical analysis of behaviors of HCT-mono-mIL12 in solid tumor 36
제4장 Discussion 43
제5장 References 46

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