Goldberg Shalom D, Felix Nathan, McCauley Michael, Eberwine Ryan, Casta Lou, Haskell Kathleen, Lin Tricia, Palovick Elizabeth, Klein Donna, Getts Lori, Getts Robert, Zhou Mimi, Bansal-Pakala Pratima, Dudkin Vadim
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Spring House, Montgomery, PA 19477, USA.
Genisphere LLC, Hatfield, PA 19440, USA.
Pharmaceutics. 2021 Oct 13;13(10):1669. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13101669.
Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are caused by immune system recognition of self-proteins and subsequent production of effector T cells that recognize and attack healthy tissue. Therapies for these diseases typically utilize broad immune suppression, which can be effective, but which also come with an elevated risk of susceptibility to infection and cancer. T cell recognition of antigens is driven by binding of T cell receptors to peptides displayed on major histocompatibility complex proteins (MHCs) on the cell surface of antigen-presenting cells. Technology for recombinant production of the extracellular domains of MHC proteins and loading with peptides to produce pMHCs has provided reagents for detection of T cell populations, and with the potential for therapeutic intervention. However, production of pMHCs in large quantities remains a challenge and a translational path needs to be established. Here, we demonstrate a fusion protein strategy enabling large-scale production of pMHCs. A peptide corresponding to amino acids 259-273 of collagen II was fused to the N-terminus of the MHC_II beta chain, and the alpha and beta chains were each fused to human IgG4 Fc domains and co-expressed. A tag was incorporated to enable site-specific conjugation. The cytotoxic drug payload, MMAF, was conjugated to the pMHC and potent, peptide-specific killing of T cells that recognize the collagen pMHC was demonstrated with tetramerized pMHC-MMAF conjugates. Finally, these pMHCs were incorporated into MMAF-loaded 3DNA nanomaterials in order to provide a biocompatible platform. Loading and pMHC density were optimized, and peptide-specific T cell killing was demonstrated. These experiments highlight the potential of a pMHC fusion protein-targeted, drug-loaded nanomaterial approach for selective delivery of therapeutics to disease-relevant T cells and new treatment options for autoimmune disease.
类风湿关节炎等自身免疫性疾病是由免疫系统识别自身蛋白并随后产生识别和攻击健康组织的效应T细胞所引起的。这些疾病的治疗方法通常采用广泛的免疫抑制,这可能有效,但也会增加感染和患癌的风险。T细胞对抗原的识别是由T细胞受体与抗原呈递细胞表面主要组织相容性复合体蛋白(MHC)上展示的肽段结合所驱动的。重组生产MHC蛋白胞外结构域并加载肽段以产生pMHC的技术为检测T细胞群体提供了试剂,并具有治疗干预的潜力。然而,大量生产pMHC仍然是一个挑战,需要建立一条转化途径。在此,我们展示了一种能够大规模生产pMHC的融合蛋白策略。将对应于胶原蛋白II第259 - 273位氨基酸的肽段融合到MHC_IIβ链的N端,α链和β链分别与人IgG4 Fc结构域融合并共表达。引入一个标签以实现位点特异性偶联。将细胞毒性药物有效载荷MMAF偶联到pMHC上,并用四聚化的pMHC - MMAF偶联物证明了对识别胶原蛋白pMHC的T细胞具有强效的、肽段特异性杀伤作用。最后,将这些pMHC整合到负载MMAF的3DNA纳米材料中,以提供一个生物相容性平台。优化了负载和pMHC密度,并证明了肽段特异性T细胞杀伤作用。这些实验突出了以pMHC融合蛋白为靶点、负载药物的纳米材料方法在将治疗药物选择性递送至疾病相关T细胞方面的潜力以及自身免疫性疾病的新治疗选择。