Biochemistry and Biophysics Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, United States.
Biotherapeutics Molecule Discovery Department, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877, United States.
Mol Pharm. 2022 Mar 7;19(3):775-787. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00373. Epub 2022 Feb 2.
The widespread interest in antibody therapeutics has led to much focus on identifying antibody candidates with favorable developability properties. In particular, there is broad interest in identifying antibody candidates with highly repulsive self-interactions in standard formulations (e.g., low ionic strength buffers at pH 5-6) for high solubility and low viscosity. Likewise, there is also broad interest in identifying antibody candidates with low levels of non-specific interactions in physiological solution conditions (PBS, pH 7.4) to promote favorable pharmacokinetic properties. To what extent antibodies that possess both highly repulsive self-interactions in standard formulations and weak non-specific interactions in physiological solution conditions can be systematically identified remains unclear and is a potential impediment to successful therapeutic drug development. Here, we evaluate these two properties for 42 IgG1 variants based on the variable fragments (Fvs) from four clinical-stage antibodies and complementarity-determining regions from 10 clinical-stage antibodies. Interestingly, we find that antibodies with the strongest repulsive self-interactions in a standard formulation (pH 6 and 10 mM histidine) display the strongest non-specific interactions in physiological solution conditions. Conversely, antibodies with the weakest non-specific interactions under physiological conditions display the least repulsive self-interactions in standard formulations. This behavior can be largely explained by the antibody isoelectric point, as highly basic antibodies that are highly positively charged under standard formulation conditions (pH 5-6) promote repulsive self-interactions that mediate high colloidal stability but also mediate strong non-specific interactions with negatively charged biomolecules at physiological pH and vice versa for antibodies with negatively charged Fv regions. Therefore, IgG1s with weakly basic isoelectric points between 8 and 8.5 and Fv isoelectric points between 7.5 and 9 typically display the best combinations of strong repulsive self-interactions and weak non-specific interactions. We expect that these findings will improve the identification and engineering of antibody candidates with drug-like biophysical properties.
抗体疗法受到广泛关注,这促使人们高度重视鉴定具有良好开发特性的抗体候选物。特别是,人们广泛关注鉴定在标准制剂(例如 pH5-6 的低离子强度缓冲液)中具有高排斥自相互作用的抗体候选物,以实现高溶解度和低粘度。同样,人们也广泛关注鉴定在生理溶液条件(PBS,pH7.4)下具有低非特异性相互作用的抗体候选物,以促进有利的药代动力学特性。在多大程度上可以系统地鉴定同时具有在标准制剂中具有高排斥自相互作用和在生理溶液条件下具有弱非特异性相互作用的抗体仍然不清楚,这可能是成功开发治疗性药物的障碍。在这里,我们根据来自四个临床阶段抗体的可变片段(Fv)和来自十个临床阶段抗体的互补决定区,评估了 42 种 IgG1 变体的这两个特性。有趣的是,我们发现,在标准制剂(pH6 和 10mM 组氨酸)中具有最强排斥自相互作用的抗体在生理溶液条件下显示出最强的非特异性相互作用。相反,在生理条件下具有最弱非特异性相互作用的抗体在标准制剂中显示出最小的排斥自相互作用。这种行为在很大程度上可以用抗体等电点来解释,因为在标准制剂条件(pH5-6)下高度带正电荷的高度碱性抗体促进排斥自相互作用,从而介导高胶体稳定性,但也介导与生理 pH 下带负电荷的生物分子的强烈非特异性相互作用,反之亦然,对于带负电荷的 Fv 区域的抗体。因此,具有 8 至 8.5 之间的弱碱性等电点和 7.5 至 9 之间的 Fv 等电点的 IgG1 通常表现出强排斥自相互作用和弱非特异性相互作用的最佳组合。我们期望这些发现将提高具有类药生物物理特性的抗体候选物的鉴定和工程改造。