工程化具有高效内体逃逸能力的肿瘤细胞特异性胞质穿透抗体。
Engineering of a tumor cell-specific, cytosol-penetrating antibody with high endosomal escape efficacy.
机构信息
Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon, 16499, Republic of Korea.
ORUM Therapeutics Inc., Daejeon, 34050, Republic of Korea.
出版信息
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2018 Sep 18;503(4):2510-2516. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.07.008. Epub 2018 Jul 4.
The main obstacles for practical uses of cytosol-penetrating peptides and proteins include their lack of cell- or tissue-specific targeting and limited cytosolic access owing to the poor endosomal escape ability. We have previously reported a cytosol-penetrating, human IgG1 antibody TMab4-WYW, generally referred to as a cytotransmab (CT), which reaches the cytosol of living cells but nonspecifically because it is endocytosed via a ubiquitously expressed receptor called heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG). Here, our aim was to construct a next-generation CT with tumor cell specificity and improved endosomal escape efficiency. We first substantially reduced the HSPG-binding activity of TMab4-WYW and then fused a cyclic peptide specifically recognizing tumor-associated epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) to the N terminus of the light chain for EpCAM-mediated endocytosis, while maintaining the endosomal escape ability in the light chain variable domain (VL), thus generating epCT05. Then, we separately engineered another CT, dubbed epCT65-AAA, with an endosomal escape ability only in the heavy chain variable domain (VH) but not in VL, by functional grafting of the endosomal escape motif of epCT05 VL to the VH. We finally combined the heavy chain of epCT65-AAA and the light chain of epCT05 to create epCT65 with endosomal escape capacity in both the VH and VL. epCT65 effectively localized to the cytosol of only EpCAM-expressing tumor cells and showed approximately twofold improved endosomal escape efficiency, as compared with CTs with endosomal escape motifs in either VH or VL. The full-IgG format CT, epCT65, with a tumor cell-specific cytosol-penetrating activity, has a great potential for practical medical applications, e.g., as a carrier for cytosolic delivery of payloads.
细胞穿透肽和蛋白在实际应用中的主要障碍包括缺乏细胞或组织特异性靶向性和由于较差的内体逃逸能力而导致的有限细胞溶质进入。我们之前报道了一种细胞穿透的人 IgG1 抗体 TMab4-WYW,通常称为细胞穿透单抗(CT),它可以到达活细胞的细胞质,但不是特异性的,因为它通过一种称为硫酸乙酰肝素蛋白聚糖(HSPG)的普遍表达的受体被内吞。在这里,我们的目标是构建一种具有肿瘤细胞特异性和提高内体逃逸效率的下一代 CT。我们首先大大降低了 TMab4-WYW 与 HSPG 的结合活性,然后将特异性识别肿瘤相关上皮细胞黏附分子(EpCAM)的环肽融合到轻链的 N 端,用于 EpCAM 介导的内吞作用,同时保持轻链可变区(VL)中的内体逃逸能力,从而产生 epCT05。然后,我们通过将 epCT05 VL 中的内体逃逸基序功能嫁接,分别构建了另一种 CT,称为 epCT65-AAA,其仅在重链可变区(VH)中具有内体逃逸能力,而在 VL 中没有。最后,我们将 epCT65-AAA 的重链和 epCT05 的轻链结合起来,创建了具有 VH 和 VL 中内体逃逸能力的 epCT65。epCT65 仅靶向表达 EpCAM 的肿瘤细胞的细胞质,并显示出与 VH 或 VL 中具有内体逃逸基序的 CT 相比,内体逃逸效率提高了约两倍。具有肿瘤细胞特异性细胞质穿透活性的全长 IgG 格式 CT epCT65 在实际医学应用中具有很大的潜力,例如作为细胞溶质中有效载荷传递的载体。