Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
  • A61K39/395—Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immune serum, e.g. antilymphocytic serum
  • A61K39/39533—Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immune serum, e.g. antilymphocytic serum against materials from animals
  • A61K39/39558—Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immune serum, e.g. antilymphocytic serum against materials from animals against tumor tissues, cells, antigens
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
  • A61P31/04—Antibacterial agents
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
  • A61P31/12—Antivirals
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
  • A61P35/02—Antineoplastic agents specific for leukemia
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
  • A61P35/04—Antineoplastic agents specific for metastasis
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
  • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
  • A61P37/06—Immunosuppressants, e.g. drugs for graft rejection
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P43/00—Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/08—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from viruses
  • C07K16/10—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from viruses from RNA viruses
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
  • C07K16/2803—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against the immunoglobulin superfamily
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
  • C07K16/2803—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against the immunoglobulin superfamily
  • C07K16/2833—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against the immunoglobulin superfamily against MHC-molecules, e.g. HLA-molecules
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
  • C07K16/2851—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against the lectin superfamily, e.g. CD23, CD72
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
  • C07K16/2896—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against molecules with a "CD"-designation, not provided for elsewhere
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
  • C07K16/30—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants from tumour cells
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
  • C07K16/32—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against translation products of oncogenes
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12P—FERMENTATION OR ENZYME-USING PROCESSES TO SYNTHESISE A DESIRED CHEMICAL COMPOUND OR COMPOSITION OR TO SEPARATE OPTICAL ISOMERS FROM A RACEMIC MIXTURE
  • C12P21/00—Preparation of peptides or proteins
  • C12P21/005—Glycopeptides, glycoproteins
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/10—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by their source of isolation or production
  • C07K2317/12—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by their source of isolation or production isolated from milk
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/20—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by taxonomic origin
  • C07K2317/21—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by taxonomic origin from primates, e.g. man
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/30—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by aspects of specificity or valency
  • C07K2317/31—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by aspects of specificity or valency multispecific
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/50—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/50—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments
  • C07K2317/51—Complete heavy chain or Fd fragment, i.e. VH + CH1
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/50—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments
  • C07K2317/56—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments variable (Fv) region, i.e. VH and/or VL
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/60—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments
  • C07K2317/62—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments comprising only variable region components
  • C07K2317/622—Single chain antibody (scFv)
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/60—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments
  • C07K2317/62—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments comprising only variable region components
  • C07K2317/626—Diabody or triabody
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/70—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by effect upon binding to a cell or to an antigen
  • C07K2317/73—Inducing cell death, e.g. apoptosis, necrosis or inhibition of cell proliferation
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/70—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by effect upon binding to a cell or to an antigen
  • C07K2317/73—Inducing cell death, e.g. apoptosis, necrosis or inhibition of cell proliferation
  • C07K2317/732—Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity [ADCC]
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/70—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by effect upon binding to a cell or to an antigen
  • C07K2317/73—Inducing cell death, e.g. apoptosis, necrosis or inhibition of cell proliferation
  • C07K2317/734—Complement-dependent cytotoxicity [CDC]
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide
  • C07K2319/30—Non-immunoglobulin-derived peptide or protein having an immunoglobulin constant or Fc region, or a fragment thereof, attached thereto
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
  • Y02P20/00—Technologies relating to chemical industry
  • Y02P20/50—Improvements relating to the production of bulk chemicals
  • Y02P20/582—Recycling of unreacted starting or intermediate materials

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of medicine, more in particular to the field of production of antibodies, more in particular to the production of mixtures of antibodies.
• the essential function of the immune system is the defence against infection.
• the humoral immune system combats molecules recognized as non-self, such as pathogens, using immunoglobulines.
• immunoglobulines also called antibodies, are raised specifically against the infectious agent, which acts as an antigen, upon first contact (Roitt, Essential Immunology, Blackwell Scientific Publications, fifth edition, 1984; all references cited herein are incorporated in their entirety by reference) .
• Antibodies are multivalent molecules comprising heavy (H) chains and light (L) chains joined with interchain disulfide bonds.
• IgGl IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, IgA, IgD, IgE, and IgM.
• An IgG contains two heavy and two light chains. Each chain contains constant (C) and variable (V) regions, which can be broken down into domains designated C H if C H2 , C H3 , V, and C I , (Fig. 1) .
• Antibody binds to antigen via the variable region domains contained in the Fab portion, and after binding can interact with molecules and cells of the immune system through the constant domains, mostly through the Fc portion.
• B-lymphocytes can produce antibodies in response to exposure to biological substances like bacteria, viruses and their toxic products. Antibodies are generally epitope specific and bind strongly to substances carrying these epitopes.
• the hybridoma technique makes use of the ability of B-cells to produce monoclonal antibodies to specific antigens and to subsequently produce these monoclonal antibodies by fusing B-cells from mice exposed to the antigen of interest to immortalized murine plasma cells.
• This technology resulted in the realization that monoclonal antibodies produced by hybridoma' s could be used in research, diagnostics and therapies to treat different kinds of diseases like cancer and auto-immune related disorders.
• a therapeutic or diagnostic moiety e.g. T-cell, a cytotoxic trigger molecule or a chelator that binds a radionuclide, that is recognized by one variable region of the antibody to a cell that is recognized by the other variable region of the antibody, e.g. a tumor cell (see for bispecific antibodies Segal et al, 2001) .
• phage display libraries One very useful method known in the art to obtain fully human monoclonal antibodies with desirable binding properties employs phage display libraries. This is an in vitro, recombinant DNA-based, approach that mimics key features of the humoral immune response (see for phage display methods e.g. CF Barbas III et al, Phage Display. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 2001) .
• phage display libraries collections of human monoclonal antibody heavy and light chain variable region genes are expressed on the surface of bacteriophage particles, usually in single chain Fv (scFv) or in Fab format.
• phage display libraries may be constructed from immunoglobulin variable regions that have been partially assembled or rearranged in vitro to introduce additional antibody diversity in the library (semi- synthetic libraries) (De Kruif et al, 1995b) .
• immunoglobulin variable regions contain stretches of synthetically produced, randomized or partially randomized DNA in those regions of the molecules that are important for antibody specificity.
• the genetic information encoding the antibodies identified by phage display can be used for cloning the antibodies in a desired format, e.g. IgG, IgA or IgM, to produce the antibody with recombinant DNA methods (Boel et al, 2000) .
• mice that comprise genetic material encoding a human immunoglobulin repertoire (Fishwild et al, 1996/ Mendez et al, 1997) . Such mice can be immunized with a target antigen, and the resulting immune response will produce fully human antibodies. The sequences of these antibodies can be used in recombinant production methods.
• polyclonal antibodies can also be used for therapeutic applications, e.g. for passive vaccination or for active immunotherapy, and currently are usually derived from pooled serum from immunized animals or from humans who recovered from the disease.
• the pooled serum is purified into the proteinaceous or gamma globulin fraction, so named because it contains predominantly IgG molecules.
• Polyclonal antibodies that are currently used for treatment include anti-rhesus polyclonal antibodies, gamma-globulin for passive immunization, anti-snake venom polyclonal (CroFab) , Thy oglobulinTM for allograft rejection, anti-digoxin to neutralize the heart drug digoxin, and anti-rabies polyclonal.
• RhoFab anti-snake venom polyclonal
• Thy oglobulinTM for allograft rejection
• anti-digoxin to neutralize the heart drug digoxin
• anti-rabies polyclonal anti-rabies polyclonal.
• an example of the higher efficacy of polyclonal antibodies compared to monoclonal antibodies can be found in the treatment of acute transplant rejection with anti- T-cell antibodies.
• the monoclonal antibodies on the market are less efficacious than a rabbit polyclonal antibody against thymocytes
• Fig. 1 Schematic representation of an antibody.
• the heavy and light chains are paired via interchain disulfide bonds (dotted lines) .
• the heavy chain can be either of the , ⁇ , ⁇ , ⁇ or ⁇ isotype.
• the light chain is either ⁇ or K.
• An antibody of IgGl isotype is shown.
• FIG. 2 Schematic representation of a bi-specific monoclonal antibody.
• a bi-specific antibody contains two different fuctional F(Ab) domains, indicated by the different patterns of the V ⁇ -V regions.
• Fig. 3 Sequence alignment of V L and V H of K53, UBS-54 and 02-237.
• DNA sequence of common V L of UBS54 and K53 is SEQ. ID. NO. 1, while the amino acid sequence is given as SEQ. ID. NO. 2.
• DNA sequences of V L of 02-237, and V H of UBS54, K53 and 02-237 are SEQ. ID. NOs . 3, 5, 7 and 9, respectively, while the amino acid sequences are given in SEQ. ID. NOs. 4, 6, 8 and 10, respectively.
• Fig. 4 Overview of plasmids pUBS3000Neo and pCD46_3000 (Neo) .
• Fig. 5 IEF of transiently expressed pUBS3000Neo, pCD46_3000 (Neo) and a combination of both.
• B The upper part shows a schematic representation of the expected molecules when a single light chain and a single heavy chain are expressed in a cell, leading to monoclonal antibodies UBS-54 or K53.
• the lower part under the arrow shows a schematic representation of the combinations produced when both heavy chains and the common light chain are co-expressed in a host cell, with theoretical amounts when both heavy chains are expressed at equal levels and pair to each other with equal efficiency.
• the common light chain is indicated with the vertically striped bars.
• Fig. 6 Schematic representation of a possible embodiment of the method according to the invention (see e.g. Examples 9) .
• Fig. 7 Sequence of v H and V of phages directed against ' CD22 (clone B28) , CD72 (clone II-2) and HLA-DR (class II; clone 1-2) .
• DNA sequences of V L of clones B28, H-2 and I- 2 are SEQ. ID. NOs. 11, 13 and 15, respectively, while the amino acid sequences are SEQ. ID. NOs. 12, 14 and 16, respectively.
• DNA sequence of the common light chain of these clones is SEQ. ID. NO. 17, while the amino acid sequence is SEQ. ID. NO. 18.
• Fig. 8 Map of pUBS54-IgA (pCRU-LOl encoding human IgAl against EPCAM) .
• Fig. 9 Dimeric bi-specific IgA with a single light chain (indicated by horizontally striped bar) .
• the method of the invention will produce a mixture of forms wherein different heavy chains can be paired, and only the most simple form is depicted in this schematic representation.
• a J-chain is shown to join the two monomers.
• Fig. 10 Pentameric multispecific IgM with a single light chain (indicated by horizontally striped bars) .
• the method of the invention will produce a mixture of many different forms wherein different heavy chains can be paired, and only the most simple form when 5 different heavy chains are expressed with a single light chain, and all 5 different heavy chains are incorporated in the pentamer and paired to the same heavy chain, is depicted in this schematic representation.
• Pentamers with less specificities can also be formed by incorporation of less than 5 different heavy chains. Especially when the J- chain is not expressed, hexamers can also be obtained.
• Fig. 11 Expression of a mixture of human IgG isotypes consisting of a common light chain, but with different binding specificities in a single cell to avoid the formation of bispecific antibodies.
• the different binding specificities are indicated by the different colours of the VH sequences.
• the common light chain is indicated with the vertically striped bars.
• the IgGl isotype is indicated with the grey Fc
• the IgG3 isotype is indicated with the black Fc part.
• Fig. 12 DNA and protein sequences of variable domains heavy and light chains of K53, UBS54 and 02-237 IgG.
• Fig. 14 BIACORE analysis of K53 and 02-237.
• Affinity purified human CD46 from LS174T cells was coupled (640 RU) to CM5 chips (BIACORE BR-1000-14) .
• Binding of 1000 (A), 500 (B) , 250 (C), 125 (D) , 63 (E) , 31 (F) , 16 (G) , 8 (H) or 0 (I) nM 02-237 or k53 purified from stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines to the CD46 was monitored using a BIACORE 3000 system at 37°C. Using this experimental set-up, a Kd of 9.1 X 10-7 and 2.2 X 10-8 was found for K53 and 02-237, respectively.
• Fig. 17 IEF analysis of purified IgG fractions.
• Ten ⁇ g purified IgG was analysed on an Isogel 3-10 gel (BMA) according to recommendations of the manufacturer. Proteins were visualized by staining with colloidal blue (Novex, cat. No LC6025) according to recommendations of the manufacturer. Clone identity is indicated on top of the IEF.
• Each gel contains a control, consisting of a 1:1:1 mixture of 02-237, K53 and UBS54.
• Fig. 18 IEF analysis of polyclonal mixtures 241, 280, 282, 361 and 402 in comparison to single K53, 02-237 and UBS54.
• Ten ⁇ g purified IgG was analysed on an Isogel 3-10 gel (BMA) according to recommendations of the manufacturer. Proteins were visualized by staining with colloidal blue (Novex, cat. No LC6025) according to recommendations of the manufacturer. IgG identity is indicated on top of the IEF.
• FIG. 19 Mass chromatograms of CDR3 peptides of K53, 02- 237, UBS54 and the two unique light chain peptides Ll- K53/UBS54 and Ll-237 in IgG fraction Polyl-280. On the right-hand side of each mass chromatogram, the isotopic pattern of the peptide is shown. The doubly charged ion at m/z 1058.98 (Mw 2115.96 Da) results from peptide Hll- K53. The doubly charged ion at m/z 1029.96 (Mw 2057.92 Da) results from peptide Hll-02-237.
• the triply charged ion at m/z 770.03 results from peptide H9-UBS54.
• the doubly charged ion at m/z 1291.08 results from peptide L1-K53/UBS54.
• the doubly charged ion at m/z 1278.11 results from peptide Ll-02-237.
• Purified IgG was dissolved in a 0.1% RapiGestTM (Waters) in 50 mM NH4HC03. The disulfides were reduced using 1 M DTT (1, 4-dithio-DL-threitol) , followed by incubation at 65°C for 30 minutes.
• the LC-system consisted of a Vydac reversed-phase C18 column, that was eluted by applying a gradient of solvent A (5/95/1 acetonitrile, water, glacial acetic acid v/v/v) and solvent B (90/10/1 acetonitrile, water, glacial acetic acid v/v/v) .
• the LC was on-line coupled to a Q-TOF2 mass spectrometer (Micromass) , equipped with an electrospray source operated at 3 kV. Mass spectra were recorded in positive ion mode from m/z 50 to 1500 at a cone voltage of 35 V.
• BIACORE analysis of polyclonal 280 Affinity purified human CD46 from LS174T cells was coupled (640 RU) to CM5 chips (BIACORE BR-1000-14) . Binding of 1000 (A), 500 (B), 250 (C), 125 (D) , 63 (E) , 31 (F) , 16 (G) , 8 (H) or 0 (I) nM Polyl-280 to CD46 was monitored using a BIACORE 3000 system at 37 °C.
• Fig. 21 IEF analysis of sub-clones from clones poly 1- 241, poly 1-280 and poly 1-402 producing a mixture of antibodies.
• Lane 2 contains isolated IgG from the parent clone poly 1-402 (as in Fig. 18) .
• Lanes 3, 4 and 5 respectively contain isolated IgG from 3 independent sub-clones derived from poly 1-402 by limiting dilution.
• Lane 6 contains a control (a 1:1:1 mixture of 02-237, K53 and UBS54) .
• Fig. 22 FACS analysis of mixtures of antibodies produced from sub-clones of poly 1-241 (A) , poly 1-280 (B) and poly 1-402 (C) .
• the present invention provides for a method of producing a mixture of antibodies in a recombinant host, the method comprising the step of: expressing in a recombinant host cell a nucleic acid sequence or nucleic acid sequences encoding at least one light chain and at least three different heavy chains that are capable of pairing with said at least one light chain.
• a further aspect of the invention is the elimination of the production of potentially nonfunctional light-heavy chain pairing by using preselected combinations of heavy and light chains. It has been recognized that phage display libraries built from a single light chain and many different heavy chains can encode antibody fragments with very distinct binding properties.
• This feature can be used to find different antibodies having the same light chain but different heavy chains, against the same target or different targets, wherein a target can be a whole antigen or an epitope thereof.
• a target can be a whole antigen or an epitope thereof.
• Such different targets may for instance be on the same surface (e.g. cell or tissue).
• Such antibody fragments obtained by phage display can be cloned into vectors for the desired format, e.g. IgG, IgA or IgM, and the nucleic acid sequences encoding these formats can be used to transfect host cells.
• H and L chains can be encoded by different constructs that, upon transfection into a cell wherein they are expressed, give rise to intact Ig molecules.
• H- and L-chains When different H chain constructs are transfected into a cell with a single L chain construct, H- and L-chains will be assembled to form all possible combinations. However, in contrast to approaches where different light chains are expressed such as for the production of bispecific antibodies, this method will result only in functional binding regions. It would be particularly useful when the host, e . g. a single cell line, is capable of expressing acceptable levels of recombinant antibodies, without the necessity to first amplify in said cell the nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibodies.
• a cell line suitable for use in the methods according to the invention is the human cell line PER.C6TM. Using this method a mixture of antibodies with defined specificities can be produced from a single cell clone in a safe, controlled, and consistent manner.
• the invention provides a method for production of a mixture of antibodies in a recombinant host, the method comprising the step of: expressing a nucleic acid sequence or nucleic acid sequences encoding at least one light chain and at least three different heavy chains that are capable of pairing with said at least one light chain in a recombinant host cell.
• the recombinant host cell comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain that is capable of pairing with said at least three different heavy chains, such that the produced antibodies comprise a common light chain.
• “common” also refers to functional equivalents of the light chain of which the amino acid sequence is not identical. Many variants of said light chain exist wherein mutations (deletions, substitutions, additions) are present that do not materially influence the formation of functional binding regions.
• the invention further provides a composition comprising a mixture of recombinantly produced antibodies, wherein at least three different heavy chain sequences are represented in said mixture.
• the light chains of such mixtures have a common sequence.
• the mixture of antibodies can be produced by the method according to the invention.
• the mixture of antibodies is more efficacious than the individual antibodies it comprises, more preferably, the mixture acts synergistically in a functional assay.
• the invention further provides a recombinant host cell for producing mixtures of antibodies, and methods for making such host cells. Independent clones obtained from the transfection of nucleic acid sequences encoding a light chain and more than one heavy chain may express the different antibodies in the mixture at different levels. It is another aspect of the invention to select a clone using a functional assay, for the most potent mixture of antibodies.
• the invention therefore further provides a method for identifying at least one host cell clone that produces a mixture of antibodies, wherein said mixture of antibodies has a desired effect according to a functional assay, the method comprising the steps of: (i) providing a host cell with nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one light chain and nucleic acid sequences encoding at least two different heavy chains, wherein said heavy and light chains are capable of pairing with each other/ (ii) culturing at least one clone of said host cell under conditions conducive to expression of said nucleic acid sequences/ (iii) screening said at least one clone of the host cell for production of a mixture of antibodies having the desired effect by a functional assay/ and (iv) identifying at least one clone that produces a mixture of antibodies having the desired effect.
• This method according to the invention can be performed using high- throughput procedures, if desired.
• the clones identified by the method can be used to produce antibody mixtures according to the invention.
• the invention further provides transgenic non-human animals and transgenic plants or transgenic plant cells capable of expressing mixtures of antibodies, and mixtures of antibodies produced by these.
• the invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising a mixture of recombinantly produced antibodies and a suitable carrier.
• the invention further provides mixtures of antibodies for use in the treatment or diagnosis and for the preparation of a medicament for use in the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or disorder in a human or animal subject.
• the invention further provides a method for producing a mixture of antibodies comprising different isotypes from a single host cell clone.
• the invention further provides a method for indentifying a mixture of antibodies having a desired effect in a functional assay.
• the invention further provides a method for producing a mixture of antibodies that are capable of binding to a target, the method comprising the steps of: i) bringing a phage library comprising antibodies into contact with material comprising a target, ii) at least one step of selecting phages binding to said target, iii) identifying at least two phages that comprise antibodies binding to said target, wherein said at least two antibodies comprise a common light chain, iv) introducing a nucleic acid sequence encoding the light chain and a nucleic acid sequence or sequences encoding the heavy chains of said at least two antibodies into a host cell, v) culturing a clone of said host cell under conditions conducive to expression of said nucleic acid sequences.
• the light and heavy chains when paired form functional antigen binding domains.
• a functional antigen binding domain is capable of specifically binding to an antigen.
• the method for producing a mixture of antibodies according to the invention further comprises the step of recovering the antibodies from the cell or the host cell culture to obtain a mixture of antibodies suitable for further use.
• a method for production of a mixture of antibodies comprising the step of: expressing in a recombinant host cell a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain and nucleic acid sequence or sequences encoding at least three different heavy chains that are capable of pairing with said common light chain, such that the antibodies that are produced comprise common light chains.
• the common light chain is identical in each light chain/heavy chain pair.
• antibody as used herein means a polypeptide containing one or more domains that bind an epitope on an antigen, where such domains are derived from or have sequence identity with the variable region of an antibody.
• the structure of an antibody is schematically represented in Fig.l.
• Examples of antibodies according to the invention include full length antibodies, antibody fragments, bispecific antibodies, immunoconjugates, and the like.
• An antibody according to the invention may be isotype IgGl, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4,
• Antibody fragments include Fv, Fab, Fab', F(ab') 2 fragments, and the like.
• Antibodies according to the invention can be of any origin, including murine, of more than one origin, i.e. chimeric, humanized, or fully human antibodies.
• Immunoconjugates comprise antigen binding domains and a non-antibody part such as a toxin, a radiolabel, an enzyme, and the like.
• An "antigen binding domain” preferably comprises variable regions of a heavy and a light chain, and is responsible for specific binding to an antigen of interest.
• Recombinant antibodies are prepared by expressing both a heavy and a light chain in a host cell. Similarly, by expressing two chains with their respective light chains (or a common light chain) , wherein each heavy chain/light chain has its own specificity, so-called “bispecific” antibodies can be prepared.
• Bispecific antibodies comprise two non-identical heavy-light chain combinations (Fig. 2), and both antigen binding regions of a bispecific antibody may recognize different antigens or different epitopes on an antigen.
• a "common light chain” according to the invention refers to light chains which may be identical or have amino acid sequence differences. Said light chains may comprise mutations which do not alter the specificity of the antibody when combined with the same heavy chain, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
• common light chains it is for instance possible within the scope of the definition of common light chains as used herein, to prepare or find light chains that are not identical but still functionally equivalent, e.g. by introducing and testing conservative amino acid changes, changes of amino acids in regions that do not or only partly contribute to binding specificity when paired with the heavy chain, and the like. It is an aspect of the present invention to use as common light chain one identical light chain to combine with different heavy chains to form antibodies with functional antigen binding domains. The use of one common light chain avoids the formation of heterodimers in which pairing of light and heavy chains results in antigen binding domains that are not functional, in other words which are not capable of binding to the target antigen or antigens.
• the host cell according to the invention is provided with nucleic acid sequences encoding for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more heavy chains capable of pairing with the common light chain, to increase the complexity of the produced mixture of antibodies .
• “Different heavy chains” according to the invention may differ in the variable region and have the same constant region. In other embodiments, where it is clear from the context, they may have the same variable region and differ in the constant region, e.g. be of a different isotype. The use of a mixture of antibodies having different constant regions, such as the Fc-portion, may be advantageous if different arms of the immune system are to be mobilized in the treatment of the human or animal body. In yet other embodiments, also to be clear from the context, both the variable and the constant regions may differ.
• a “mixture of antibodies” according to the invention comprises at least two non-identical antibodies, but may comprise 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more different antibodies, and may resemble a polyclonal or at least an oligoclonal antibody mixture with regard to complexity and number of functional antigen binding molecules.
• the mixtures produced according to the present invention usually will comprise bispecific antibodies. If desired, formation of monospecific antibodies in the mixture can be favoured over the formation of bispecific antibodies.
• n heavy chains and one common light chain are expressed according to the invention in a host cell at equal levels, the theoretical percentage of bispecific antibodies produced by the method according to the invention is (1-1/n) *100% .
• the total number of different antibodies in the mixture produced by the method according to the invention is theoretically n+ ⁇ (n 2 -n) /2 ⁇ , of which (n 2 -n/2) are bispecific antibodies. Distortion of the ratio of expression levels of the different heavy chains may lead to values deviating from the theoretical values. The amount of bispecific antibodies can also be decreased, compared to these theoretical values, if not all heavy chains pair with equal efficiency. It is for instance possible to engineer the heavy chains, e . g. by introducing specific and complementary interaction surfaces between selected heavy chains, to promote homodimer pairing over heterodimer pairing, contrary to what has been proposed by Merchant, supra . Heavy chains may also be selected so as to minimize heterodimer formation in the mixture.
• a special form of this embodiment involves heavy chains of two or more different isotypes (e.g. IgGl, IgG3, IgA) .
• heavy chains of different isotype are expressed in the same host cell in accordance with the present invention and one light chain that can pair to these heavy chains, the amount of bispecific antibodies will be reduced, possibly to very low or even to undetectable levels.
• bispecific antibodies when bispecific antibodies are less desirable, it is possible to produce a mixture of antibodies according to the invention, wherein a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain and nucleic acid sequences encoding at least two different heavy chains with a different variable region capable of pairing to said common light chain are expressed in a recombinant host, and wherein said heavy chains further differ in their constant regions sufficiently to reduce or prevent pairing between the different heavy chains.
• the mixtures of antibodies according to the invention may be produced from a clone that was derived from a single host cell, i.e. from a population of cells containing the same recombinant nucleic acid sequences.
• the different heavy chains according to the invention can be encoded on separate nucleic acid molecules, but may also be present on one nucleic acid molecule comprising different regions encoding said at least three heavy chains.
• the nucleic acid molecules usually encode precursors of the light and/or heavy chains, which when expressed are secreted from the host cells, thereby becoming processed to yield the mature form.
• a “recombinant host cell” as used herein is a cell comprising one or more so-called transgenes, i.e. recombinant nucleic acid sequences not naturally present in said cell. These transgenes are expressed in said host cell to produce recombinant antibodies encoded by these nucleic acid sequences, when these cells are cultured under conditions conducive to expression of said nucleic acid sequences.
• the host cell according to the invention can be present in the form of a culture from a clone that is derived from a single host cell wherein the transgenes have been introduced.
• nucleic acid sequences encoding antibodies it is well known to those skilled in the art that sequences capable of driving such expression can be functionally linked to the nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibodies. Functionally linked is meant to describe that the nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibody fragments or precursors thereof is linked to the sequences capable of driving expression such that these sequences can drive expression of the antibodies or precursors thereof.
• Useful expression vectors are available in the art, e.g. the pcDNA vector series of Invitrogen. Where the sequence encoding the polypeptide of interest is properly inserted with reference to sequences governing the transcription and translation of the encoded polypeptide, the resulting expression cassette is useful to produce the polypeptide of interest, referred to as expression.
• Sequences driving expression may include promoters, enhancers and the like, and combinations thereof. These should be capable of functioning in the host cell, thereby driving expression of the nucleic acid sequences that are functionally linked to them.
• Promoters can be constitutive or regulated, and can be obtained from various sources, including viruses, prokaryotic, or eukaryotic sources, or artificially designed. Expression of nucleic acids of interest may be from the natural promoter or derivative thereof or from an entirely heterologous promoter.
• Some well-known and much used promoters for expression in eukaryotic cells comprise promoters derived from viruses, such as adenovirus, e.g.
• Suitable promoters can also be derived from eukaryotic cells, such as methallothionein (MT) promoters, elongation factor l (EF-l ⁇ ) promoter, actin promoter, an immunoglobulin promoter, heat shock promoters, and the like. Any promoter or enhancer/promoter capable of driving expression of the sequence of interest in the host cell is suitable in the invention.
• CMV cytomegalovirus
• IE CMV immediate early
• SV40 Simian Virus 40
• Suitable promoters can also be derived from eukaryotic cells, such as methallothionein (MT) promoters, elongation factor l (EF-l ⁇ ) promoter, actin promoter, an immunoglobulin promoter, heat shock promoters, and the like.
• MT methallothionein
• EF-l ⁇ elongation factor l
• actin promoter actin promoter
• an immunoglobulin promoter an immunoglobulin promoter
• the sequence capable of driving expression comprises a region from a CMV promoter, preferably the region comprising nucleotides -735 to +95 of the CMV immediate early gene enhancer/promoter .
• the expression sequences used in the invention may suitably be combined with elements that can stabilize or enhance expression, such as insulators, matrix attachment regions, STAR elements (WO 03/004704), and the like. This may enhance the stability and/or levels of expression. Protein production in recombinant host cells has been extensively described, e.g. in Current Protocols in
• Culturing a cell is done to enable it to metabolize, and/or grow and/or divide and/or produce recombinant proteins of interest. This can be accomplished by methods well known to persons skilled in the art, and includes but is not limited to providing nutrients for the cell. The methods comprise growth adhering to surfaces, growth in suspension, or combinations thereof. Several culturing conditions can be optimized by methods well known in the art to optimize protein production yields. Culturing can be done for instance in dishes, roller bottles or in bioreactors, using batch, fed-batch, continuous systems, hollow fiber, and the like. In order to achieve large scale
• “Host cells” may be any host cell capable of expressing recombinant DNA molecules, including bacteria such as Eschericia (e.g. E.coli), Enterobocter, Salmonalla, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, yeasts such as S .
• bacteria such as Eschericia (e.g. E.coli), Enterobocter, Salmonalla, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, yeasts such as S .
• filamentous fungi such as Neurospora, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus niger, insect cells such as Spodoptera frugiperda SF-9 or SF-21 cells, mammalian cells such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, BHK cells, mouse cells including SP2/0 cells and NS-0 myeloma cells, primate cells such as COS and Vero cells, MDCK cells, BRL 3A cells, hybridomas, tumor-cells, immortalized primary cells, human cells such as W138, HepG2, HeLa, HEK293, HT1080 or embryonic retina cells such as PER.C6TM, and the like.
• CHO Chinese hamster ovary
• the expression system of choice will involve a mammalian cell expression vector and host so that the antibodies are appropriately glycosylated.
• a human cell line preferably PER.C6TM, can advantageously be used to obtain antibodies with a completely human glycosylation pattern.
• the conditions for growing or multiplying cells see e.g. Tissue Culture, Academic Press, Kruse and Paterson, editors (1973) ) and the conditions for expression of the recombinant product may differ somewhat, and optimization of the process is usually performed to increase the product yields and/or growth of the cells with respect to each other, according to methods generally known to the person skilled in the art.
• the antibodies are expressed in the cells according to the invention, and may be recovered from the cells or preferably from the cell culture medium, by methods generally known to persons skilled in the art. Such methods may include precipitation, centrifugation, filtration, size-exclusion chromatography, affinity chromatography, cation- and/or anion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and the like.
• protein A or protein G affinity chromatography can be suitably used (see e.g. US patents 4,801,687 and 5,151,504) .
• At least two antibodies from the mixture produced according to the invention comprise a heavy-light chain dimer having different specificities and/or affinities.
• the specificity determines which antigen or epitope thereof is bound by the antibody.
• the affinity is a measure for the strength of binding to a particular antigen or epitope.
• Specific binding is defined as binding with an affinity (Ka) of at least 5 * 10E4 liter/mole, more preferably 5 * 10E5, more preferably more than 5 * 10E6, still more preferably 5 * 10E7, or more.
• monoclonal antibodies may have affinities which go up to 10E10 liter per mole, or even higher.
• the mixture of antibodies produced according to the present invention may contain at least two antibodies that bind to different epitopes on the same antigen molecule and/or may contain at least two antibodies that bind to different antigen molecules present in one antigen comprising mixture.
• Such an antigen comprising mixture may be a mixture of partially or wholly purified antigens such as toxins, membrane components and proteins, viral envelope proteins, or it may be a healthy cell, a diseased cell, a mixture of cells, a tissue or mixture of tissues, a tumor, an organ, a complete human or animal subject, a fungus or yeast, a bacteria or bacterial culture, a virus or virus stock, combinations of these, and the like.
• the mixture of antibodies according to the present invention may therefore have many of the advantages of a polyclonal or oligoclonal antibody mixture.
• the host cell according to the method of the invention is capable of high-level expression of human immunoglobulin, i.e. at least 1 pg/cell/day, preferably at least 10 pg/cell/day and even more preferably at least 20 pg/cell/day or more without the need for amplification of the nucleic acid molecules encoding the heavy and light chains in said host cell.
• host cells according to the invention contain in their genome between 1 and 10 copies of each recombinant nucleic acid to be expressed. In ' the art, amplification of the copy number of the nucleic acid sequences encoding a protein of interest in e.g.
• CHO cells can be used to increase expression levels of the recombinant protein by the cells (see e.g. Bendig, 1988/ Cockett et al, 1990/ US patent 4,399,216). This is currently a widely used method. However, a significant time-consuming effort is required before a clone with a desired high copy number and high expression levels has been established, and moreover clones harbouring very high copy numbers (up to hundreds) of the expression cassette often are unstable (e.g. Kim et al., 1998). It is therefore a preferred embodiment of the present invention to use host cells that do not require such amplification strategies for high-level expression of the antibodies of interest.
• the methods of the invention include culturing the cells for at least 20, preferably 25, more preferably 30 population doublings, and in other aspects the host cells according to the invention have undergone at least 20, preferably 25, more preferably 30 population doublings and are still capable of expressing a mixture of antibodies according to the invention.
• the invention also provides a culture of cells producing a mixture of immunoglobulins from a single cell, said mixture comprising at least three different heavy chains.
• the invention also provides a culture of cells producing at least three different monospecific immunoglobulins from a single cell.
• said culture produces said mixture or said at least three different monospecific immunoglobulins in a single cell for more than 20, preferably more than 25, more preferably more than 30 population doublings.
• host cells according to the method of the invention are derived from human retina cells that have been immortalized or transformed with adenoviral El sequences.
• a particularly preferred host cell according to methods of the present invention is PER.C6TM as deposited under ECACC no. 96022940, or a derivative thereof.
• PER.C6-derived clones can be generated fast, usually contain a limited number of copies (about 1-10) of the transgene, and are capable of high-level expression of recombinant antibodies (Jones et al, 2003) . Therefore, such clones are expected to maintain a stable copy number over many generations, which is an advantage in the production of biopharmaceuticals.
• PER.C6TM cells have been extensively characterized and documented, demonstrating good process of scaling up, suspension growth and growth factor independence. Furthermore, PER.C6TM can be incorporated into a suspension in a highly reproducible manner, making it particularly suitable for large-scale production. In this regard, the PER.C6TM cell line has been characterized for bioreactor growth, where it can grow to very high densities. The use of PER.C6TM for recombinant production of antibodies has been described in detail in publication WO 00/63403 and in (Jones et al. , 2003) . It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a mixture of antibodies that is obtainable by a method according to the invention.
• mixtures of antibodies are expected to be more effective than the sole components it comprises, in analogy to polyclonal antibodies usually being more effective than monoclonal antibodies to the same target.
• Such mixtures can be prepared against a variety of target antigens or epitopes .
• It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a recombinant host cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a light chain and a nucleic acid sequence or nucleic acid sequences encoding at least three different heavy chains of an antibody, wherein said light chain and heavy chains are capable of pairing, preferably to form a functional binding domain.
• the paired heavy and light chain form functional antigen binding regions against the target antigen or target antigens.
• the host cells according to the invention are useful in the method according to the invention. They can be used to produce mixtures of antibodies according to the invention.
• compositions comprising a mixture of recombinantly produced antibodies, wherein at least three different heavy chain sequences are represented in the mixture of recombinant antibodies.
• Monoclonal antibodies are routinely produced by recombinant methods.
• the present invention discloses mixtures of antibodies useful for diagnosis or treatment in various fields.
• the compositions according to the invention comprise mixtures of at least three different heavy chains paired to light chains in the form of antibodies.
• the light chains of the antibodies in said mixtures have a common light chain.
• the mixtures may comprise bispecific antibodies.
• the mixtures may be produced from a clone that was derived from a single host cell, i.e.
• compositions according to the invention may have several of the advantages of a polyclonal antibody mixture, without the disadvantages usually inherently associated with polyclonal antibody mixtures, because of the manner in which they are produced. It is furthermore expected that the mixture of antibodies is more efficacious than separate monoclonal antibodies. Therefore the dosage, and hence the production capacity required, may be less for the mixtures of antibodies according to the invention than for monoclonal antibodies .
• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more of the antibodies present in the mixture according to the invention have different specificities. Said different specificities may be directed to different epitopes on the same antigen and/or may be directed to different antigens present in one antigen comprising mixture.
• a composition according to the invention further may also comprise 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more antibodies having different affinities for the same epitope. Antibodies with differing affinities for the same epitope may for instance be generated by methods of affinity maturation, known to the person skilled in the art.
• the composition according to the invention has an effect that is greater than the effect of each individual monospecific antibody present in said composition. Said effect can be measured in a functional assay.
• a “functional assay” according to the present invention is an assay that can be used to determine one or more desired parameters of the antibody or the mixture of antibodies subject to the assay conditions.
• Suitable functional assays may be binding assays, apoptosis assays, antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) assays, complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) assays, inhibition of cell growth or proliferation (cytostatic effect) assays, cell killing (cytotoxic effect) assays, cell signaling assays, assays for measuring inhibition of binding of pathogen to target cell, assays to measure the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or other secreted molecules, assays for bacteriostasis, bactericidal activity, neutralization of viruses, assays to measure the attraction of components of the immune system to the site where antibodies are bound, including in situ hybridization methods, labeling methods, and the like.
• ADCC antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity
• CDC complement dependent cytotoxicity
• in vivo assays such as animal models, including mouse tumor models, models of autoimmune disease, virus-infected or bacteria-infected rodent or primate models, and the like, can be used for this purpose.
• the efficacy of a mixture of antibodies according to the invention can be compared to individual antibodies in such models by methods generally known to the person skilled in the art.
• said host cell comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain that is capable of pairing with said at least two different heavy chains, such that produced antibodies comprise common light chains, as described above.
• said culturing in step (ii) and said screening in step (iii) of the method is performed with at least two clones.
• the method may optionally include an assay for measuring the expression levels of the antibodies that are produced, which assay may be during or after step (ii) according to the method, or later in the procedure.
• assays are well known to the person skilled in the art, and include protein concentration assays, immunoglobulin specific assays such as ELISA, RIA, DELFIA, and the like.
• the host cell comprises nucleic acid sequence or sequences encoding at least 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more heavy chains capable of pairing with said at least one light chain.
• Functional assays useful for the method according to the invention may be assays for apoptosis, ADCC, CDC, cell killing, inhibition of proliferation, virus neutralization, bacterial opsonization, receptor- mediated signaling, cell signaling, bactericidal activity, and the like.
• Useful screening assays for anti- cancer antibodies have for instance been described in US patent 6,180,357. Such assays may also be used to identify a clone according to the method of the present invention.
• ELISAs enzyme linked immunosorbent assays
• ELISAs enzyme linked immunosorbent assays
• cytotoxicity or cytostatic effects It is possible that upon such a different screen, other or the same clones producing mixtures of antibodies will be chosen than with the ELISA mentioned above.
• the screening for cell killing or cessation of growth of cancerous cells may be suitably used according to the invention. Cell death can be measured by various endpoints, including the absence of metabolism or the denaturation of enzymes.
• the assay is conducted by focusing on cytotoxic activity toward cancerous cells as an endpoint.
• a live/dead assay kit for example the LIVE/DEAD ® Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit
• the assays may also include screening of the mixture of antibodies for specificity to the desired antigen comprising tissue.
• the antibodies according to the invention may have a limited tissue distribution. It is possible to include testing the mixtures of antibodies against a variety of cells, cell types, or tissues, to screen for mixtures of antibodies that preferably bind to cells, cell types or tissues of interest.
• the present invention also teaches ways to determine the identity of the antibodies expressed by a clone, using methods such as iso-electric focusing (IEF) , mass- spectrometry (MS), and the like. It is therefore an aspect of the invention to provide use of MS and/or IEF in selecting a clone that expresses a mixture of antibodies according to the invention.
• a screening step is usually performed to assess expression levels of the individual clones that were generated. The addition of more heavy chains to produce mixtures adds a level of complexity to the production of antibodies.
• clones When host cells are transfected with nucleic acid molecules encoding the light and heavy chains that will form the mixture of antibodies desired, independent clones may arise containing the same genetic information, but nevertheless differing in expression levels, thereby producing different ratios of the encoded antibodies, giving rise to different mixtures of antibodies from the same genetic repertoire.
• the method according to the invention is useful for identifying a clone that produces an optimal mixture for a certain purpose.
• the culturing and/or screening according to steps (ii) and (iii) respectively, may be suitably performed using high-throughput procedures, optionally in an automated fashion.
• Clones can e.g. be cultured in 96-well or other multi-well plates, e.g.
• said host cell is derived from a human embryonic retinoblast cell, that has been immortalized or transformed by adenoviral El sequences.
• said cell is derived from PER.C6TM. This cell line has already been shown to be amenable to high- throughput manipulations, including culturing (WO 99/64582) .
• said mixture of antibodies according to the method of identifying at least one host cell according to the invention comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more antibodies having different specificities and/or affinities .
• a potential advantage of the method will be that it will allow exploring many possible combinations simultaneously, the combinations inherently including the presence of bispecific antibodies in the produced mixture. Therefore more combinations can be tested than by just mixing purified known monoclonal antibodies, both in number of combinations and in ratios of presence of different antibodies in these combinations.
• the clone that has been identified by the method according to the invention can be used for producing a desired mixture of antibodies. It is therefore another aspect of the present invention to provide a method of producing a mixture of antibodies, the method comprising the step of: culturing a host cell clone identified by the method of identifying at least one host cell clone that produces a mixture of antibodies according to the invention, said culturing being under conditions conducive to expression of the nucleic acid molecules encoding the at least one light chain and the at least two different heavy chains.
• the produced antibodies may be recovered from the host cells and/or from the host cell culture, e.g. from the culture medium.
• the mixture of antibodies can be recovered according to a variety of techniques known to the person skilled in the art.
• Said mixtures can be used for a variety of purposes, such as in treatment or diagnosis of disease, and may replace, or be used in addition to, monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies .
• the methods according to the present invention may suitably use nucleic acid molecules for encoding the antibodies, which nucleic acid molecules have been obtained by any suitable method, including in vivo, e . g. immunization, methods or in vitro, e.g. antibody display methods (A. Pl ⁇ ckthun et al, In vitro selection and evolution of proteins. In: Adv. Prot. Chem., F.M. Richards et al, Eds, Academic Press, San Diego, 2001, vol 55: 367-403), such as phage display, ribosome display or mRNA display (C. Schaffitzel et al . , In vitro selection and evolution of protein-ligand interactions by ribosome display.
• a library of phages that express an antigen binding domain or derivative thereof on their surface is incubated with the antigen or antigen mixture of interest, after which binding of a subpopulation of the phages that display antigen binding sites binding to the desired antigen is obtained whereas the non-binding phages are discarded.
• selection steps may be repeated one, two, or more times to obtain a population of phages that are more or less specific for the antigen of interest.
• Phage display methods to obtain antibodies, parts or derivatives thereof have been extensively described in e.g. (CF Barbas III et al, Phage Display. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,
• the library used for such screening may be generated by using the genetic information of one or more light chains, combined with genetic information encoding a plurality of heavy chains.
• the library described by De Kruif et al. (1995b) comprises 7 light chains. Therefore, in a panel of phages binding to a target, which can e.g. be obtained by methods described in De Kruif et al (supra) / US patent 6,265,150/ not more than 7 different light chains will be represented, and if the panel is large enough, several phages with the same light chain coupled to unrelated heavy chains may be found. Such phages can be used to obtain the nucleic acid molecules useful in the methods according to the present invention.
• the antibody display library may be a phage display library, a ribosome display library, an mRNA display library, or a yeast display library. Step i) and ii) may optionally be repeated one
• the nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibodies obtained by the phage display, ribosome display or yeast display method may be converted to encode any desired antibody format such as IgGl, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, IgA, IgM, IgD, IgE, before introducing them into a host cell, using standard molecular cloning methods and means known to the person skilled in the art (e.g. described in Boel et al, 2000) .
• example 1 antibodies binding to EpCAM and to CD46, described in WO 01/48485 and WO 02/18948, respectively) .
• a phage library against a target it will be also possible to start with an antibody that has already proven its merits, and use the light chain of this antibody in the preparation of a library of heavy chains combined with this particular light chain only, according to methods known to the person skilled in the art, such as phage display.
• a monoclonal antibody can be used to obtain a mixture of antibodies according to the invention, functionally resembling a polyclonal or oligoclonal antibody to the same target.
• a method reminiscent of the method described by Jespers et al (1994) to obtain a human antibody based on a functional rodent antibody can be used.
• the heavy chain of a known antibody of non-human origin is first cloned and paired as a template chain with a repertoire of human light chains for use in phage display, after which the phages are selected for binding to the antigen or mixture of antigens.
• the selected light chain is in turn paired with a repertoire of human heavy chains displayed on a phage, and the phages are selected again to find several heavy chains that when paired with the light chain are able to bind to the antigen or mixture of antigens of interest.
• the heavy and light chain coding sequences can be introduced simultaneously or consecutively into the host cell. It is also an aspect of the invention to prepare a host cell comprising a recombinant nucleic acid encoding a light chain of an antibody. Such a cell can for instance be obtained by transfection of said nucleic acid, and optionally a clone can be identified that has a high expression of the light chain. An established clone may then be used to add genetic information encoding 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more heavy chains of the invention by introducing the nucleic acid molecules encoding these into cells of the clone that already contains the light chain. The nucleic acid molecules encoding the heavy chains may be introduced into said host cell concomitantly.
• Suitable dominant selection markers for introducing nucleic acids into eukaryotic host cells according to the invention may be G418 or neomycin (geneticin) , hygromycin or mycophenolic acid, puromycin, and the like, for which genes encoding resistance are available on expression vectors. Further possibilities include for instance the use of vectors containing DHFR genes or glutamate synthetase to select in the presence of methotrexate in a DHFR " cell or the absence of glutamine in a glutamine auxotroph, respectively.
• selection markers that can be used more than once, e.g. when containing mutations, introns, or weakened promoters that render them concentration dependent (e.g. EP0724639; WO01/32901; US patent 5,733,779).
• a selection marker may be re-used by deleting it from the host cell after use, e.g. by site-specific recombination.
• a selectable marker located between sequences recognized by a site- specific recombinase e.g.
• lox-sites or FRT-sites is used for the generation of the first stable transfectant (see for Cre-lox site-specific recombination Wilson and Kola, 2001) .
• the selectable marker is excised from the host cell DNA by the matching site- specific recombinase, e.g. Cre or Flp.
• Cre or Flp e.g. Cre or Flp.
• a subsequent transfection can suitably use the same selection marker.
• Different host cell clones each comprising the genetic information encoding a different light chain may be prepared. If the antibodies are identified by an antibody display method, it is thus possible to prepare several host cells, each comprising one light chain present in the antibody display library.
• the nucleic acid molecules encoding the heavy chains can be introduced into the host cell containing the common light chain that is capable of pairing to the heavy chains. It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a method for making a host cell for production of a mixture of antibodies, the method comprising the steps of: introducing into said host cell a nucleic acid sequence encoding a light chain and nucleic acid sequence or sequences encoding 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more different heavy chains that are capable of pairing with said light chain, wherein said nucleic acid molecules are introduced consecutively or simultaneously.
• a method for making a recombinant host cell for production of a mixture of antibodies comprising the step of: introducing a nucleic acid sequence or nucleic acid sequences encoding 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more different heavy chains into a recombinant host cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a light chain capable of pairing with at least two of said heavy chains.
• extra copies of the nucleic acid molecules encoding the light chain may be transfected into the cell.
• methods to integrate the transgenes in predetermined positions of the genome resulting in favorable expression levels can also be used according to the invention.
• Such methods may for instance employ site-specific integration by homologous recombination (see e.g. WO 98/41645), or make use of site-specific recombinases (Gorman and Bullock, 2000) .
• Promoters in plants may also be non- tissue specific, and general gene expression elements, such as the CaMV 35S promoter and nopaline synthase polyA addition site can also be used.
• Said light chain is a common light chain according to the invention.
• the transgenic animal or plant according to the invention comprises 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more heavy chain sequences.
• the art also discloses the use of transgenic animals, transgenic plants, and for instance transgenic chickens to produce proteins in the eggs, and the like to produce recombinant proteins of interest (Pollock et al, 1999/ Larrick and Thomas, 2001/ WO 91/08216) .
• These usually comprise the recombinant gene or genes encoding one or more proteins of interest in operable association with a tissue- specific promoter.
• recombinant antibodies can be produced at high levels in the milk of transgenic animals, that contain the nucleic acids encoding a heavy and a light chain behind a mammary gland specific promoter (e.g. Pollock et al, 1999/ WO 95/17085) .
• a mammary gland specific promoter e.g. Pollock et al, 1999/ WO 95/17085.
• cows, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, mice, and the like which can be milked to obtain antibodies.
• Useful promoters are the casein promoters, such as the ⁇ -casein promoter, the ⁇ Sl-casein promoter, the whey acidic protein (WAP) promoter, the ⁇ -lactoglobulin promoter, the -lactalbumin promoter, and the like.
• transgenic animals comprising recombinant nucleic acid molecules
• the generation of transgenic animals comprising recombinant nucleic acid molecules has been extensively documented, and may include micro-injection of oocytes (see e.g. Wilmut and Clark, 1991), nuclear transfer after transfection (e.g. Schnieke et al, 1997) , infection by recombinant viruses (e.g. US patent 6291740), and the like.
• Nuclear transfer and cloning methods for mammalian cells are known to the person skilled in the art, and are e.g. described in
• Transgenic plants or plant cells producing antibodies have also been described (Hiatt et al, 1989/ Peeters et al, 2001) , and useful plants for this purpose include corn, maize, tobacco, soybean, alfalfa, rice, and the like.
• Constitutive promoters that can for instance be used in plant cells are the CaMV 35S and 19S promoters, Agrobacterium promoters nos and ocs .
• Other useful promoters are light inducible promoters such as rbcS.
• Tissue-specific promoters can for instance be seed- specific, such as promoters from zein, napin, beta- phaseolin, ubiquitin, or tuber-specific, leaf-specific (e.g. useful in tobacco), root-specific, and the like.
• transgenic systems for producing recombinant proteins have also been described, including the use of transgenic birds to produce recombinant proteins in eggs (e.g WO 97/47739), and the use of transgenic fish (e.g. WO 98/15627), and can be used in combination with the teachings of the present invention to obtain mixtures of antibodies. It is also possible to use an in vitro transciption/translation or in vitro translation system for the expression' of mixtures of antibodies according to the present invention. It will be clear to the skilled person that the teachings of the current invention will allow producing mixtures of antibodies in systems where recombinant nucleic acid encoding the light chain and heavy chains can be introduced and expressed.
• a cell from a transgenic non-human animal or a transgenic plant according to the invention is provided.
• Such cells can be used to generate the animals or plants according to the invention, using techniques known to the person skilled in the art, such as nuclear transfer or other known methods of cloning whole organisms from single cells.
• the cells according to the invention may also be obtained by introducing the light and at least two heavy chain sequences into isolated cells of non-human animals or plants, which cells are capable of becoming part of a transgenic animal or plant. Particularly useful for such purposes are embryonic stem cells.
• plant cell cultures of cotton, corn, tomato, soybean, potato, petunia, and tobacco can be utilized as hosts, when transformed with the nucleic acid molecules encoding the light chain and the heavy chains, e.g. by use of the plant transforming bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens or by particle bombardment, or by infecting with recombinant plant viruses.
• It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising a mixture of recombinantly produced antibodies and a suitable carrier, wherein at least two different heavy chains are represented in said mixture of recombinantly produced antibodies.
• Pharmaceutically acceptable carriers as used herein are exemplified, but not limited to, adjuvants, solid carriers, water, buffers, or other carriers used in the art to hold therapeutic components, or combinations thereof. In particular embodiments, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more different heavy chains are represented in said mixture.
• Said mixture can be obtained by mixing recombinantly produced monoclonal antibodies, but may also be obtained by methods according to the present invention. Said mixture may therefore comprise a common light chain for said antibodies. Said mixture may comprise bispecific antibodies.
• Said mixture may be produced from a clone that was derived from a single host cell, i.e. from a population of cells containing the same recombinant nucleic acid molecules.
• recombinantly produced refers to production by host cells that produce antibodies encoded by recombinant nucleic acids introduced in such host cells or ancestors thereof. It does therefore not include the classical method of producing polyclonal antibodies, whereby a subject is immunized with an antigen or antigen comprising mixture, after which the antibodies produced by this subject are recovered from the subject, e.g. from the blood.
• the invention provides the use of a mixture of antibodies wherein at least two different heavy chains are represented, for the preparation of a medicament for use in the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or disorder in a human or animal subject.
• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more heavy chains are represented in said mixture.
• Said mixtures of antibodies may be mixtures of antibodies according to the invention, or obtained by methods according to the invention.
• Antibodies present in said mixture may preferably comprise a common light chain.
• the mixtures may comprise bispecific antibodies, and may be recombinantly produced from a clone that was derived from a single host cell, i.e. from a population of cells containing the same recombinant nucleic acid molecules.
• the targets may be used to screen an antibody display library, as described supra, to obtain 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more antibodies comprising a common light chain that bind to the target, and produce a mixture of these according to the teachings of the present invention.
• Virtually any area of medicine where monoclonal antibodies can be used is amenable for the use of the mixtures according to the invention. This can e.g.
• Neoplastic disorders which can be treated with the mixtures according to the present invention include leukemias, lymphomas, sarcomas, carcinomas, neural cell tumors, squamous cell carcinomas, germ cell tumors, metastases, undifferentiated tumors, seminomas, melanomas, myelomas, neuroblastomas, mixed cell tumors, neoplasias caused by infectious agents, and other malignancies.
• Targets for the antibody mixtures may include, but are not limited to, the HER-2/Neu receptor, other growth factor receptors such as VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 receptor, B-cell markers such as CD19, CD20, CD22, CD37, CD72, etc, T-cell markers such as CD3, CD25, etc, other leukocyte cell surface markers such as CD33 or HLA-DR, etc, cytokines such as TNF, interleukins, receptors for these cytokines such as members of the TNF receptor family, and the like.
• the HER-2/Neu receptor other growth factor receptors such as VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 receptor
• B-cell markers such as CD19, CD20, CD22, CD37, CD72, etc
• T-cell markers such as CD3, CD25, etc
• other leukocyte cell surface markers such as CD33 or HLA-DR, etc
• cytokines such as TNF, interleukins, receptors for these cytokines such as members of the TNF receptor family, and the like
• mixtures of antibodies are superior to monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of complex antigens or antigen comprising mixtures such as bacteria or viruses. Therefore, use according to the invention can also include use against strains of bacteria and fungi, e.g. in the treatment of infectious diseases due to pathogenic bacteria such as multidrug resistant S.aureus and the like, fungi such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus species, yeast and the like.
• the mixtures according to the invention may also be used for post exposure profylaxis against viruses, such as members of the genus Lyssavirus e.g.
• rabies virus or for therapeutic or prophylactic use against viruses such as Varicella-Zoster Virus, Adenoviruses, Respiratory Syncitium Virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Human Metapneumovirus, Influenzavirus, West Nile Virus, the virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) , and the like.
• viruses such as Varicella-Zoster Virus, Adenoviruses, Respiratory Syncitium Virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Human Metapneumovirus, Influenzavirus, West Nile Virus, the virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) , and the like.
• Mixtures according to the inventions can also be used to protect against agents, both bacteria and viruses, and against toxic substances that are potential threats of biological warfare.
• use according to the invention can also include use against strains of bacteria such as Bacillus anthracis , Clostridium botulinum toxin, Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin Yersinia Pestis, Francisella tulariensis, Coxiella burnetii , Brucella species, Staphylococcus enterotoxin B, or against viruses such as Variola major, alphaviruses causing meningoencephalitis syndromes (EEEV, VEEV, and WEEV) , viruses known to cause hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Marburg and Junin virus or against viruses such as Nipah virus, Hantaviruses, Tickborne encephalitis virus and Yellow fever virus or against toxins e.g.
• Ricin toxin from Ricinus communis and the like Use of the mixtures according to the invention can also include use against unicellular or multicellular parasites.
• Recombinant mixtures of antibodies according to the invention may become a safe alternative to polyclonal antibodies obtained from pools of human sera for passive immunization, or from sera of hyper-immunized animals.
• the mixtures may be more efficacious than recombinant monoclonal antibodies in various therapeutic applications, including cancer, allergy, viral diseases, chronic inflammation, and the like.
• tumor- reactive monoclonal antibodies markedly increases their ability to induce growth arrest or apoptosis of tumor cells (Ghetie et al, 1997) .
• target cells such as tumor cells or infectious microorganisms
• the bispecific antibodies present in mixtures according to the invention may also crosslink different receptors or other antigens on the surface of target cells, and therefore such mixtures may be very suitable for killing such cells.
• the present invention also provides methods to recombinantly produce mixtures of antibodies comprising mainly monospecific antibodies.
• Her-2 may therefore be a good target for antibody mixtures according to the present invention.
• Antibodies useful for this purpose can be obtained by methods described in the present invention, including antibody display methods.
• Human antibodies are capable of eliciting effector function via binding to immunoglobulin receptors on immune effector cells.
• Human IgG fix complement to induce CDC and interact with Fc ⁇ receptors to induce antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) , phagocytosis, endocytosis, induction of respiratory burst and release of inflammatory mediators and cytokines.
• Human IgA interacts with Fc R, also to result in efficient activation of ADCC and phagocytosis of target cells.
• the principle of using a common light chain can also be used for the production of a mixture of isotypes from a host cell. It is therefore yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a method for producing a mixture of antibodies comprising different isotypes from a host cell, the method comprising the step of: culturing a host cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a light chain and nucleic acid sequences encoding at least two heavy chains of different isotype that are capable of pairing with said light chain, under conditions conducive to expression of said nucleic acid sequences.
• different heavy chains may have identical variable regions, and only differ in their constant regions (i.e. be of different isotype and have the same specificity) .
• said isotypes comprise at least an IgG and an IgA and/or IgM, preferably IgGl or IgG3 and IgA.
• IgGl preferably IgGl or IgG3 and IgA.
• IgGl preferably IgGl or IgG3 and IgA.
• IgGl preferably IgGl or IgG3 and IgA.
• IgGl IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4
• bispecific antibodies will not be produced because the variable regions are the same.
• not only the constant regions of the heavy chains may differ, but also the variable regions, thereby giving rise to different specificities, paired with the same light chain.
• bispecific antibodies are not desired for a given purpose, e.g. because the mixtures of antibodies are less efficacious because of the presence of the bispecific antibodies, it is possible to use at least two heavy chains combined with the common light chain according to the invention wherein said heavy chains differ sufficient in their constant regions to reduce or prevent pairing between the different heavy chains, e.g. by using heavy chains of different isotypes, e.g. an IgGl and an IgG3 (see Fig. 11 for a schematic representation) .
• the heavy chains of different isotype will pair much less efficient, if at all, compared to the same heavy chains.
• said heavy chains are of different isotype.
• 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more different heavy chains are expressed.
• Mixtures of antibodies obtainable by this method are also embodied in the present invention. Such mixtures will comprise mainly monospecific antibodies.
• the invention provides a method for producing a mixture of antibodies comprising dimeric IgA isotype ⁇ (IgA) 2 ⁇ antibodies in a recombinant host, wherein at least part of said dimeric IgA antibodies have different binding regions in each of the IgA subunits, the method comprising the step of: expressing in a recombinant host cell a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain and nucleic acid sequences encoding at least two different heavy chains of IgA isotype capable of pairing to said common light chain, wherein said different heavy chains differ in their variable region. Dimerization of the IgA molecules can be enhanced by co-expressing J-chain (Yoo et al,
• the invention provides a method for producing a mixture of antibodies comprising an IgM antibody having at least two different specificities, the method comprising the step of expressing in a recombinant host cell a nucleic acid sequence encoding a common light chain and nucleic acid sequences encoding at least two different heavy chains of IgM isotype, wherein said heavy chains are capable of pairing to said common light chain and form functional antigen binding regions.
• IgM pentamer Up to five specificities can be comprised in an IgM pentamer in the presence of J-chain, and up to six in an IgM hexamer in the absence of J-chain (Yoo et al, 1999) . Therefore, in specific embodiments, 3, 4, 5, or 6 IgM heavy chains are co-expressed with the common light chain according to this aspect of the invention. See Fig. 10 for a schematic representation of one of the possible forms that can be produced and present in the mixture according to this aspect of the invention, when five different heavy chains are expressed with a common light chain.
• the invention also provides for IgA dimers, IgM pentamers or hexamers having at least two different specificities.
• These molecules can be produced from a clone of a single host cell according to the invention.
• Such molecules harbouring antigen binding regions with different specificities, can bind different epitopes on the same antigen, different antigens on one cell, or different antigens on different cells, thereby crosslinking the antigens or cells.
• said mixture is comprised in a composition according to the present invention.
• the invention also provides a method for recombinant expression of one or more proteins in a single host cell, wherein at least four different polypeptides are expressed in said single host cell.
• Each polypeptide is independently expressed, and may be under control of a heterologous promoter.
• the protein or proteins may be isolated separately or as a mixture from a culture of said host cell.
• the host cell of this embodiment is a human cell, and/or may be derived from a retina cell, more preferably a cell comprising adenovirus El sequences in its genome, most preferably a PER.C6 cell.
• Example 1 Production of a mixture of monoclonal antibodies with a common light chain and two different heavy chain variable regions in a single cell Clone UBS-54 and Clone K53 were previously isolated by selections on the colorectal cell line SW40 (Huls et al., 1999) and on a heterogeneous mixture of mononuclear cells of a patient with multiple myeloma (WO 02/18948) , respectively, with a semi-synthetic library (de Kruif et al., 1995b). Further studies revealed that clone UBS-54 and K53 bound to the EP-CAM homotypic adhesion molecule (Huls et al., 1999) and the membrane cofactor protein CD46 (WO 02/18948), respectively.
• each 80 cm 2 flask was transfected by incubation for 4 hours with 140 ⁇ l lipofectamine + 10 ⁇ g DNA (either pUBS3000Neo, pCD46_3000 (Neo) or 10 ⁇ g of both) in serum-free DMEM medium at 37 °C. After 4 hours, this was replaced with DMEM 4- 10% FBS, and the cells were grown overnight at 37°C. Cells were then washed with PBS and the medium was replaced with Excell 525 medium (JRH Bioscience) . The cells were allowed to grow at 37°C for 6 days, after which the cell culture supernatant was harvested.
• Human IgG specific ELISA analysis (described in WO 00/63403) indicated that IgG was present at approximately 10 ⁇ g/ml for all flasks containing expression plasmids. No IgGl was present in a control flask which was not transfected with expression plasmid. Human IgG from each supernatant was subsequently purified using Protein A affinity chromatography (Hightrap Protein A HP, cat.no. 1-040203) according to standard procedures, following recommendations of the manufacturer (Amersham Biosciences) . After elution, samples were concentrated in a Microcon YM30 concentrator (Amicon) and buffer exchanged to 10 mM sodium phosphate, pH 6.7.
• Protein A affinity chromatography Hightrap Protein A HP, cat.no. 1-040203
• Isoelectric focusing gels (Serva Pre-cast IEF gels, pH range 3-10, cat.no. 42866) .
• the samples were loaded on the low pH side and after focussing stained with colloidal blue (Fig. 5) .
• Lane 1 shows transiently expressed K53
• Lane 2 shows transiently expressed UBS-54
• Lane 3 shows the IgG sample of the cells in which both antibodies were co- transfected.
• K53 and UBS-54 each have a unique pi profile and the sample form the cotransfection showed other unique isoforms, with the major isoform having a pi in between those of K53 and UBS-54.
• K53 and UBS-54 have a theoretic pi of 8.24 and 7.65, respectively, whereas an isoform representing a heterodimer of one UBS-54 heavy chain and one K53 heavy chain has a theoretical pi of 8.01. Assembly of such a heterodimer can only occur when a single cell translates both the heavy chain of K53 and the heavy chain of UBS-54 and assembles these into a full length IgG molecule together with the common light chain.
• this experiment shows that it is possible to express two unique human IgG molecules in a single cell and that a heterodimer consisting of these two unique binding specificities is also efficiently formed.
• a method for producing a mixture of antibodies according to the invention, using expression in a recombinant host cell of a single light chain and three different heavy chains capable of pairing to the single light chain to form functional antibodies is exemplified herein and is schematically shown in Fig. 6.
• Phages encoding antibodies capable of binding proteins present on human B-cells, i.e. CD22, CD72 and Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II were previously isolated from a semi-synthetic phage library (de Kruif et al . , 1995/ van der Vuurst de Vries & Logtenberg, 1999) .
• V H and V L sequences of the phages clone B28 (anti-CD22) , clone 1-2 (anti-HLA-DR) and clone II-2 (anti-CD72) revealed that they all contain a unique V H sequence, but a common light chain sequence (V ⁇ 3) with an identical CDR region (Fig. 7) .
• V H and V L sequences of clones B28, 1-1 and II-2 are cloned behind the HAVT20 leader sequences of an expression plasmid comprising a heavy chain.
• An example of such a plasmid is pCRU-KOl (contains kappa heavy chain sequences, that can easily be interchanged for lambda heavy chain sequences if desired, by a person skilled in the art) , as deposited at the ECACC under number 03041601.
• the cloning gives rise to plasmids encoding a full length human IgGi with binding specificities for CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR.
• These plasmids will further be referred to as pCRU-CD22, pCRU-CD72 and pCRU-HLA-DR, respectively.
• Stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines are generated, according to methods known to the person skilled in the art (see e.g. WO 00/63403), the cell lines expressing antibodies encoded by genetic information on either pCRU- CD22, pCRU-CD72 or pCRU-HLA-DR and a cell line expressing antibodies encoded by all three plasmids. Therefore, PER.C6TM cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C0 2 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections are performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with either 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-CD22, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-CD72, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-HLA-DR or 1 ⁇ g of a mixture of pCRU-CD22, pCRU-CD72 and pCRU-HLA-DR.
• a few dishes are transfected with a LacZ control vector, while a few dishes will be not transfected and serve as negative controls.
• cells are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-cultured colony) and production levels of recombinant human IgG antibody are determined in the supernatant using an ELISA specific for human IgGi (described in WO 00/63403) .
• G418 is removed from the culture medium and never re- applied again. For a representative number of colonies larger volumes will be cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures.
• Purified human IgGi from the various clones is analyzed on SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the targets CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR using cell transfectants expressing these human antigens on their cell surface (transfectants expressing CD72 and HLA-DR have been described by van der Vuurst-de Vries and Logtenberg, 1999/ a CD22 transfectant has been prepared according to similar standard procedures in PER.C6TM).
• Colonies obtained from the co-transfection with pCRU- CD22, pCRU-CD72 and pCRU-HLA-DR are screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs.
• PCR products are further confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• a clonal cell line accounts for the production of each of the three binding specificities, i.e. proving that a single cell is able to produce a mixture of more than two functional human IgG's. Therefore, a limited number of colonies, which screened positive for the production of each of the three binding specificities (both by PCR at the DNA level as well as in the specified binding assays against CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR), are subjected to single cell sorting using a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) (Becton & Dickinson FACS VANTAGE SE) .
• FACS fluorescence activated cell sorter
• colonies are seeded at 0.3 cells/well to guarantee clonal outgrowth.
• Clonal cell populations hereafter designated as sub- clones, are refreshed once a week with fresh medium.
• Sub- clones are grown and transferred from 96-wells via 24- and 6-wells plates to T25 flasks.
• sub- clones are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-clone) and production levels of recombinant human IgGi antibody are determined in the supernatant using a human IgGi specific ELISA.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures.
• Purified human IgGi from the various sub-clones is subsequently analyzed as described above for human IgGi obtained from the parental clones, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Iso- electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the targets CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR.
• Sub-clones will also be screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs pCRU-CD22, pCRU-CD72 and pCRU-HLA-DR. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• a specific production test is performed using the human IgG specific ELISA and larger volumes are cultured to obtain the cell pellet and the supernatant.
• the cell pellet is used to assess the presence of the three constructs in the genomic DNA, either via PCR, Southern blot and/or FISH.
• the supernatant is used to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction as described supra.
• Purified human IgGi obtained at the various population doublings is analyzed as described, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the targets CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR using cell transfectants expressing these antigens.
• IEF Iso-electric focusing
• Functionality of the antibody mixture is analyzed in cell-based assays to determine whether the human IgGi mixture inhibits proliferation and/or induces apoptosis of B-cell lines, such as for example Ramos. Other cell lines can also be used.
• the antibody mixtures are analyzed for their potential to induce antibody dependent cellular toxicity and complement dependent cytotoxicity of for example Ramos cells.
• these cells are incubated in 96-well plates (0.1 - 1.0 x lOVml) with several concentrations (5 - 20 ⁇ g/ml) of the antibody mixtures against CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR for 24 hours.
• the proliferation of the cells is measured by 3 H-thymidine incorporation during another 16 hours of culture. Inhibition of growth is determined by plotting the percentage of 3 H-thymidine incorporation compared to untreated cells (taken as 100% reference value) .
• Ramos cells are stimulated in 48-well plates (0.2 - 1.0 x lOV l) with several concentrations (5 - 20 ⁇ g/ml) of the antibody mixtures against the targets CD22, CD72 and HLA- DR for 24 or 48 hours. After the incubation period the phosphatidyl serine exposure on apoptotic cells is analyzed (Koopman G et al, 1994) . Therefore, the cells are harvested, washed twice with PBS and are incubated at RT for 10 min with 100 ⁇ l FITC-labelled annexin V (Caltag) diluted 1:25 in annexin V binding buffer (Caltag) .
• PI propidium iodide
• apoptosis is induced by crosslinking the antibody mixtures against CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR on the cell surface of Ramos cells with 25 ⁇ g/ml of F(ab)2 of goat-anti-human (Fc-specific) polyclonal antibodies (Jackson Immunoresearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA) during the incubation period.
• apoptosis is induced by incubating the Ramos cells with several concentrations (5 - 20 ⁇ g/ml) of the antibody mixtures against CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR while co-incubating them with the chemosensitizing agents doxorubicin (Calbiochem) or dexamethasone (UMCU, Utrecht, the Netherlands) .
• doxorubicin Calbiochem
• UMCU dexamethasone
• Antibody Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity of the antibody mixtures is analyzed using peripheral blood mononuclear cells as effector cells in a standard 51 Cr release assay (Huls et al, 1999) .
• peripheral blood mononuclear cells As effector cells, 1-3 x 10 6 Ramos cells are labelled with 100 ⁇ Ci (Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK) for 1 hour at 37°C. After three washes with medium, the Ramos target cells are plated in U bottom 96 well plates at 5 x 10 3 cells/well.
• Peripheral blood mononuclear cells that are obtained from healthy donors by Ficoll-Hypaque density gradients are then added to each well at effector: target ratios ranging from 80:1 to 10:1 in triplicate.
• Complement dependent cytotoxicity is determined in a similar assay. Instead of the effector cells, now 50 ⁇ l human serum is added to the target cells. Subsequently, the assay is performed in the same manner. Alternatively, ADCC and CDC of the antibody mixtures is determined using a Europium release assay (Patel and Boyd, 1995) or using an LDH release assay (Shields et al, 2001) .
• Example 4 Use of phage display to isolate multiple phages with an identical V L sequence against a predefined target (Her-2) , and production in a recombinant host cell of a mixture of antibodies capable of binding this target.
• Phages displaying scFv fragments capable of binding multiple epitopes present on the same protein can be isolated from a semi-synthetic phage library (de Kruif et al., 1995a, b). It is possible to identify several of such phages and select the ones comprising the same light chain sequence, for further use according to the invention.
• the semi-synthetic library is formed by mixing 7 sub-libraries that each contain a different light chain (de Kruif et al, 1995a,b) . It is therefore particularly practical to use such a sub-library, containing only one light chain and many heavy chains, for screening so that multiple antibodies with an identical V L sequence are obtained, and further used for expressing the antibody mixtures according to the invention.
• phages against Her-2 several fusion proteins are generated comprising different parts of the extracellular domain of Her-2 that are fused to the CH2 and CH3 domains of human IgGl.
• a pCDNA3.1zeo expression vector (InVitrogen) has been constructed that contains in its multiple cloning region an Xhol restriction site in the hinge region in frame prior to the CH2 and CH3 domains of human IgGl.
• Her-2 cDNA clone as a template PCR fragments is generated using standard molecular biology techniques known to a person skilled in the art.
• Her-2-Ig fusionproteins are used for transient transfection of 293T cells using the lipofectamine reagent (Gibco) .
• Lipofectamine reagent Gibco
• Her-2-Ig fusion proteins containing non-overlapping fragments of the Her-2 EC domain are coated for 2 hours at 37° onto the surface of MaxisorpTM plastic tubes (Nunc) at a saturating concentration (0.5 - 5 ⁇ g/ml). The tubes are blocked for 1 h in 2% fat free milk powder dissolved in PBS (MPBS) . Simultaneously, 500 ⁇ l (approximately 10 13 cfu) of a semi-synthetic phage display library (a sub- library according to the terminology used above) in which only one Vkappal light chain is represented prepared as described by De Kruif et al (1995a, b) and references therein, is added to two volumes of 4% MPBS.
• a semi-synthetic phage display library a sub- library according to the terminology used above
• human serum is added to a final concentration of 15% and blocking is allowed to proceed for 30-60 min.
• the Her-2- Ig-coated tubes are emptied and the blocked phage library is added. The tube is sealed and rotated slowly for 1 h, followed by 2 h of incubation without rotation. The tubes are emptied and washed 10 times in PBS containing 0.1% Tween-20, followed by washing 5 times in PBS. 1 ml glycine-HCL, 0.05 M, pH 2.2 is added, and the tube is rotated slowly for 10 min. The eluted phages are added to 500 ⁇ l 1M Tris-HCl pH 7.4. To this mixture, 3.5 ml of exponentially growing XL-1 blue bacterial culture is added.
• the tubes are incubated for 30 min at 37°C without shaking. Subsequently, the bacteria are plated on 2TY agar plates containing ampicillin, tetracycline and glucose. After overnight incubation of the plates at 37 °C, the colonies are scraped from the plates and used to prepare an enriched phage library, essentially as described by De Kruif et al . (1995a). Briefly, scraped bacteria are used to inoculate 2TY medium containing ampicillin, tetracycline and glucose and are grown at 37°C to an OD 50 on of ⁇ 0.3. Helper phages are added and allowed to infect the bacteria after which the medium is changed to 2TY containing ampicillin, tetracycline and kanamycin.
• Selected phage antibodies that are obtained in the screen described above are validated by ELISA for specificity.
• Her-2-Ig fusion proteins containing non-overlapping fragments of the Her-2 EC domain are coated to Maxisorp ELISA plates. After coating, the plates are blocked in 2% MPBS. The selected phage antibodies are incubated in an equal volume of 4% MPBS. The plates are emptied, washed once in PBS, after which the blocked phages are added. Incubation is allowed to proceed for 1 h, the plates are washed in PBS 0.1% Tween- 20 and bound phages are detected using an anti-Ml3 antibody conjugated to peroxidase.
• phage antibodies are analyzed for their ability to bind BT474 human breast cancer cells that express Her-2.
• phage antibodies are first blocked in an equal volume of 4% MPBS for 15 min at 4°C prior to the staining of the BT474 cells.
• the binding of the phage antibodies to the cells is visualized using a biotinylated anti-Ml3 antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) followed by streptavidin-phycoerythrin (Caltag) .
• phage antibodies recognizing multiple epitopes on Her-2 are selected using a method based upon competition of phage binding to Her-2 with binding of the well characterized murine anti-Her-2 antibodies HER50, HER66 and HER70 (Spiridon et al, 2002) .
• 2xl0 6 BT474 cells are incubated at 4°C with approximately 10 13 cfu (0.5 ml) of a semi-synthetic phage display library in which only one Vkappal light chain is represented prepared as described supra and blocked with 2 volumes of medium containing 10% of FBS. The mixture is slowly rotated at 4°C for 2 hours in a sealed tube.
• phages recognizing multiple epitopes on Her-2 are eluted by resuspending the BT474 cells in 1 ml of cold medium containing saturating concentrations (5-20 ⁇ g/ml) of the HER50, HER66 and HER70 murine anti-Her-2 antibodies.
• the cells are left on ice for 10 min, spun down and the supernatant containing the anti-Her-2 phage antibodies is used to reinfect XLl-Blue cells as described supra.
• VK1HER2-1, VK1HER2-2 and VK1HER2-3 are cloned behind the HAVT20 leader sequences of expression plasmid pCRU-KOl (ECACC deposit 03041601) , or a similar expression plasmid, to obtain plasmids encoding a full length human IgGi-kappa with binding specificities for Her-2.
• plasmids are provisionally designated as pCRU-VKlH ⁇ R2-l, PCRU-VK1HER2-2 and pCRU-VKlHER2-3, respectively.
• Stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines are generated, according to methods known to the person skilled in the art, the cell lines expressing antibodies encoded by genetic information on either pCRU-VKlHER2-l, pCRU- VK1HER2-2 or pCRU-VKlHER2-3 and a cell line expressing antibodies encoded by all three plasmids.
• PER.C6TM cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C0 2 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections are performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with either 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-VKlHER2-l, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-VKlHER2-2, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU- VK1HER2-3 or 1 ⁇ g of a mixture of pCRU-VKlHER2-l, pCRU- VK1HER2-2 and pCRU-VKlHER2-3.
• a few dishes are transfected with a LacZ control vector, while a few dishes are not transfected and serve as negative controls.
• cells After 5 hours cells are washed twice with DMEM and refed with fresh medium without selection. The next day, medium is replaced with fresh medium containing 500 ⁇ g/ml G418. Cells are refreshed every 2 or 3 days with medium containing the same concentrations of G418. About 20-22 days after seeding, a large number of colonies are visible and from each transfection at least 300 are picked and grown via 96-well and/or 24-well via 6-well plates to T25 flasks. At this stage, cells are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-cultured colony) and production levels of recombinant human IgG antibody are determined in the supernatant using an ELISA specific for human IgGi.
• G418 is removed from the culture medium and never re-applied again.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures.
• Purified human IgGi from the various clones is analyzed on SDS- PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF), assayed binding to Her-2-Ig fusion proteins by ELISA, and analyzed for binding to Her-2 on the surface of BT474 cells by flow cytometry.
• IEF Iso-electric focusing
• Clones obtained from the co-transfection of pCRU-VKlHER2- 1, pCRU-VKlHER2-2 and pCRU-VKlHER2-3 are screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing. Next, it is demonstrated that a clonal cell line accounts for the production of each of the three binding specificities.
• sub- clones are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-clone) and production levels of recombinant human IgGi antibody are determined in the supernatant using a human IgGi specific ELISA.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures.
• Purified human IgGi from the various sub-clones is subsequently analyzed as described above for human IgGi obtained from the parental clones, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Iso- electric focusing (IEF) and binding to Her-2.
• Sub-clones will also be screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs pCRU- VK1HER2-1, pCRU-VKlHER2-2 and pCRU-VKlHER2-3. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing. Other methods such as Southern blot and/or FISH can also be used to determine whether each of the three constructs are present in the clonal cell line.
• Sub-clones that are proven to be transgenic for each of the three constructs are brought into culture for an extensive period to determine whether the presence of the transgenes is stable and whether expression of the antibody mixture remains the same, not only in terms of expression levels, but also for the ratio between the various antibodies that are secreted from the cell. Therefore, the sub-clone culture is maintained for at least 25 population doubling times either as an adherent culture or as a suspension culture. At every 4-6 population doublings, a specific production test is performed using the human IgG specific ELISA and larger volumes are cultured to obtain the cell pellet and the supernatant. The cell pellet is used to assess the presence of the three constructs in the genomic DNA, either via PCR, Southern blot and/or FISH.
• the supernatant is used to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction as described supra.
• Purified human IgGi obtained at the various population doublings is analyzed as described, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to Her-2 by ELISA and by flow cytometry using BT474 cells.
• Functionality of the antibody mixture of anti-Her-2 antibodies is analyzed in cell-based assays to determine whether the human IgGi mixture inhibits proliferation and/or induces apoptosis of BT474 cells.
• the antibody mixtures are analyzed for their potential to induce antibody dependent cellular toxicity and complement dependent cytotoxicity of BT474 cells.
• the functionality of the antibody mixture recognizing Her-2 can be analyzed and compared to each of the individual IgGl antibodies and to an equimolar combination of the three individual monospecific IgGl molecules.
• these cells are allowed to adhere overnight in 96-well plates (1.5 x 10 5 /well) and are subsequently incubated with several concentrations (5 - 20 ⁇ g/ml) of the antibody mixtures against Her-2 for 72 hours.
• the proliferation of the cells is measured by 3 H- thymidine incorporation during the last 6 hours of culture. Inhibition of growth is determined by plotting the percentage of 3 H-thymidine incorporation compared with untreated cells (taken as 100% reference value) .
• BT474 cells To analyze apoptosis induction of BT474 cells, these cells are allowed to adhere overnight in 48-well plates (2.5 x 10 5 /well in 1ml) and are subsequently incubated with several concentrations (5 - 20 ⁇ g/ml) of the antibody mixtures against Her-2 for 4 hours. Hereafter the cells are harvested by trypsinization, are washed twice with PBS and are incubated at RT for 10 min with 100 ⁇ l FITC-labelled annexin V (Caltag) diluted 1:25 in annexin V binding buffer (Caltag) . Prior to the analysis of the samples by flow cytometry (FACSCalibur, Becton
• PI propidium iodide
• Antibody Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity of the antibody mixtures is analyzed using peripheral blood mononuclear cells as effector cells and BT474 cells as target cells in a standard 51 Cr release assay as descibed supra (Huls et al, 1999) .
• Complement dependent cytotoxicity is determined in a similar assay. Instead of the effector cells, now 50 ⁇ l human serum is added to the target cells. Subsequently, the assay is performed as described supra.
• ADCC and CDC of the antibody mixtures is determined using a Europium release assay (Patel and Boyd, 1995) or using an LDH release assay (Shields et al, 2001) .
• the functionality of the antibody mixtures against Her-2 is also tested using in vivo animal models, such as for instance described in Spiridon et al, 2002.
• V H and V H sequences of phages against proteins present on human B-cells i.e. CD22 clone B28), CD72 (clone II-2) and HLA-DR (clone 1-2) (Fig. 7) are cloned into expression plasmid pBCl (as provided in the pBCl Mouse Milk Expression System, Invitrogen Life Technologies) to obtain mammary-gland and lactation-specific expression of these human IgG molecules in transgenic animals, according to the manufacturers instructions.
• pBCl as provided in the pBCl Mouse Milk Expression System, Invitrogen Life Technologies
• Obtained pups are screened for the presence of each of the three constructs by PCR on DNA isolated from the tail. Pups, either male or female, confirmed for being transgenic for each of the three antibodies, are weaned and matured.
• Female transgenic mice are fertilized at the age of 6-8 weeks and milk samples are obtained at several time points after gestation. Male transgenic mice are mated with non- transgenic females and female transgenic offspring (as determined with PCR as described above) is mated and milked as described above for the female transgenic founders. Whenever needed, female or male transgenic founders are mated for another generation to be able to obtain sufficient amounts of transgenic milk for each founder line.
• Transgenic milk is analyzed for the presence of human IgG with a human IgG specific ELISA, which does not cross-react with mouse IgG or other mouse milk components.
• Human IgG is purified from transgenic mouse milk using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures. Purified human IgG is analyzed on SDS-PAGE, Isoelectric focusing and binding on the targets CD22, CD72 and HLA-DR. Functionality of the antibody mixture is analyzed as described supra.
• Example 6 Production of an IgA/IgG mixture against a predefined target in a PER.C6TM derived clone.
• V H -V L sequences of the phage UBS-54 directed against the homotypic adhesion molecule EP-CAM (Huls et al . , 1999) was not only cloned into a vector encoding the constant domains of a human IgGl with Kappa light chain (expression vector pUBS3000Neo) , but also into an expression vector encoding the constant domains of a human IgAl with Kappa light chain (expression vector pUBS54-IgA, Fig. 8) .
• expression vector pUBS54-IgA expression vector encoding the constant domains of a human IgAl with Kappa light chain
• antibodies derived from pUBS3000Neo and pUBS54-IgA are in the sequences encoding the constant domains of the heavy chain, resulting in either an IgGi or IgAi isotype.
• the Kappa light chain sequences of these two vectors are identical.
• Stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines expressing antibodies encoded by genetic information on pUBS3000Neo and pUBS54- IgA are generated by procedures well known to persons skilled in the art.
• PER.C6TM cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C0 2 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections are performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with either 1-2 ⁇ g pUBS3000Neo and pUBS54- IgA.
• a few dishes are transfected with a LacZ control vector, while a few dishes are not transfected and serve as negative controls .
• cells are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-cultured colony) and production levels of recombinant human IgG and human IgA antibody are determined in the supernatant using an ELISA specific for human IgGl as well as an ELISA specific for human IgA.
• G418 is removed from the culture medium and never re-applied again.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi and human IgA fraction from the conditioned supernatant using for instance (a combination of) Protein L or LA affinity chromatography, cation exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and gel filtration.
• Purified human immunoglobulins from the various clones are analyzed on SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the target EPCAM using cell lines having a high expression of this molecule.
• the clones will also be screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of pUBS3000Neo and pUBS54-IgA. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• a limited number of clones, which are screened positive for the production of both EPCAM IgGi and EPCAM IgA, are subjected to single cell sorting using a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) (Becton Dickinson FACS VANTAGE SE) .
• FACS fluorescence activated cell sorter
• colonies are seeded at 0.3 cells/well to guarantee clonal outgrowth.
• Clonal cell populations, hereafter designated as sub-clones, are refreshed once a week with fresh medium.
• Sub-clones are grown and transferred from 96-wells via 24- and 6-wells plates to T25 flasks.
• sub-clones are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-clone) and production levels of recombinant human IgGi and IgA antibody are determined in the supernatant using a human IgGi specific ELISA and a human IgA specific ELISA.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi and human IgAi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using for instance (a combination of) Protein L or LA affinity chromatography, cation exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and gel filtration.
• Purified human immunoglobulins from the various clones are analyzed on SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the target EPCAM using cell lines having a high expression of this molecule.
• Sub-clones will also be screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of pUBS3000Neo and pUBS54- IgA. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• Example 7 Production of a human IgG ⁇ /IgG 3 mixture against multiple targets in a clonal PER.C6TM cell line
• Phage clone UBS-54 and Clone K53 were obtained as described in Example 1.
• the V H and V L of clone UBS-54 was inserted into an expression vector containing the HAVT20 leader sequence and all the coding sequences for the constant domains of a human IgGi with a Kappa light chain by a method essentially as described (Boel et al, 2000) .
• the resulting plasmid was designated as pUBS3000Neo (Fig. 4) . It will be clear that expression vectors containing heavy chain constant domains of any desired isotype can be constructed by routine methods of molecular biology, using the sequences of these regions that are all available in the art.
• the V H and V L sequences of Phage clone K53 are cloned into an expression vector containing the HAVT20 leader sequence and all the coding sequences for the constant domains of a heavy chain of a human IgG 3 with a Kappa light chain by a method essentially as described (Boel et al, 2000) .
• This expression vector is designated as pK53IgG3.
• These plasmids are transiently expressed either alone or in combination in PER.C6TM cells.
• each 80 cm 2 flask is transfected by incubation for 4 hours with 140 ⁇ l lipofectamine + 10 ⁇ g DNA (either pUBS3000Neo, pK53lgG3 or 10 ⁇ g of both) in serum-free DMEM medium at 37 °C. After 4 hours, this is replaced with DMEM + 10% FBS, and the cells are grown overnight at 37°C. Cells are then washed with PBS and the medium is replaced with
• the pi values of the major isoforms for each sample are determined to illustrate whether there has been expression of UBS-54 IgGl, K53 IgG3 or bispecific heterodimers, depending on how the cells were transfected.
• the identification of heterodimers would indicate that single cells have translated both the IgG3 heavy chain of K53 and the IgGl heavy chain of UBS-54 and assembled these into a full length IgG molecule together with the common light chain.
• the absence of bispecific heterodimers indicates that it is possible to translate both the IgG3 heavy chain of K53 and the IgGl heavy chain of UBS-54 in single cells, but that these do not assemble into a full length IgG molecule together with the common light chain, i.e.
• PER.C6TM cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C0 2 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections are performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with either 1-2 ⁇ g pUBS3000Neo, pK53IgG3 or both.
• a few dishes are transfected with a LacZ control vector, while a few dishes will be not transfected and serve as negative controls.
• cells are washed twice with DMEM and refed with fresh medium without selection.
• medium is replaced with fresh medium containing 500 ⁇ g/ml G418. Cells are refreshed every 2 or 3 days with medium containing the same concentrations of G418.
• FACS fluorescence activated cell sorter
• sub-clones are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-clone) and production levels of recombinant human IgG antibody are determined in the supernatant using a human IgG specific ELISA.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgG fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography (Hightrap Protein A HP, cat.no. 1-040203) according to standard procedures, following recommendations of the manufacturer (Amersham Biosciences) .
• Purified human immunoglobulins from the various clones are analyzed on SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the targets EPCAM and CD46 using cell lines having a high expression of this molecules, such as for instance LS174T cells, or transfectants expressing these molecules.
• Sub-clones are also screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of pUBS3000Neo and pK53lgG3. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• Example 8 Selection of phage carrying single chain Fv fragments specifically recognizing rabies virus glyco protein (RVGP) using RVGP-Ig fusion protein, and expression of mixtures of antibodies against the rabies virus .
• RVGP rabies virus glyco protein
• RVGP Rabies Virus Glycoprotein
• Several monoclonal antibodies recognizing RVGP have already been described in the art, and polyclonal antibodies have been recognized to be useful in treatment of rabies infections as well (e.g. EP0402029; EP0445625) .
• Antibody fragments are selected using antibody phage display libraries and MAbstractTM technology, essentially as described in US patent 6,265,150 and in WO 98/15833. All procedures are performed at room temperature unless stated otherwise.
• RVGP-Ig fusion protein consisting of whole RVGP fused genetically to the CH2 and CH3 domains of human IgGl is produced using vector pcDNA3.1 Zeo-CH2-CH3 expressed in PER.C6TM and coated for 2 hours at 37° onto the surface of MaxisorpTM plastic tubes (Nunc) at a concentration of 1.25 ⁇ g/ml. The tubes are blocked for 1 h in 2% fat free milk powder dissolved in PBS (MPBS) .
• MPBS fat free milk powder dissolved in PBS
• a phage display library expressing single chain Fv fragments essentially prepared as described by De Kruif et al (1995a,b) and references therein, is added to two volumes of 4% MPBS.
• selections are performed using fractions of the original library constructed using only one single variable light chain gene species (e.g. a ⁇ VK1' -library) .
• human serum is added to a final concentration of 15% and blocking is allowed to proceed for 30-60 min.
• the RVGP- Ig-coated tubes are emptied and the blocked phage library is added.
• the tube is sealed and rotated slowly for 1 h, followed by 2 h of incubation without rotation.
• the tubes are emptied and washed 10 times in PBS containing 0.1% Tween-20, followed by washing 5 times in PBS.
• 1 ml glycine-HCL, 0.05 M, pH 2.2 is added, and the tube is rotated slowly for 10 min.
• the eluted phages are added to 500 ⁇ l 1M Tris-HCl pH 7.4.
• 3.5 ml of exponentially growing XL-1 blue bacterial culture is added.
• the tubes are incubated for 30 min at 37 °C without shaking. Then, the bacteria are plated on 2TY agar plates containing ampicillin, tetracycline and glucose.
• scraped bacteria are used to inoculate 2TY medium containing ampicillin, tetracycline and glucose and grown at a temperature of 37°C to an OD 6 oonm of ⁇ 0.3.
• Helper phages are added and allowed to infect the bacteria after which the medium is changed to 2TY containing ampicillin, tetracycline and kanamycin. Incubation is continued overnight at 30°C.
• the bacteria are removed from the 2TY medium by centrifugation after which the phages are precipitated using polyethylene glycol 6000/NaCl. Finally, the phages are dissolved in a small volume of PBS-1% BSA, filter- sterilized and used for a next round of selection. The selection/re-infection procedure is performed twice. After the second round of selection, individual E. coli colonies are used to prepare monoclonal phage antibodies. Essentially, individual colonies are grown to log-phase and infected with helper phages after which phage antibody production is allowed to proceed overnight. Phage antibody containing supernatants are tested in ELISA for binding activity to human RVGP-Ig coated 96 wells plates.
• Selected phage antibodies that are obtained in the screen described above, are validated in ELISA for specificity.
• human RVGP-Ig is coated to Maxisorp ELISA plates. After coating, the plates are blocked in 2% MPBS. The selected phage antibodies are incubated in an equal volume of 4% MPBS. The plates are emptied, washed once in PBS, after which the blocked phages are added. Incubation is allowed to proceed for 1 h, the plates are washed in PBS 0.1% Tween-20 and bound phages are detected using an anti-M13 antibody conjugated to peroxidase. As a control, the procedure is performed simultaneously using a control phage antibody directed against thyroglobulin (De Kruif et al. 1995a, b), which serves as a negative control.
• the phage antibodies that bind to human RVGP-Ig are subsequently tested for binding to human serum IgG to exclude the possibility that they recognized the Fc part of the fusion protein.
• phage antibodies are analyzed for their ability to bind PER.C6TM cells that express RVGP
• PER.C6TM cells are transfected with a plasmid carrying a cDNA sequence encoding RVGP or with the empty vector and stable transfectants are selected using standard techniques known to a person skilled in the art (e.g. Coligan, J.E. etal. (2001) Current protocols in protein science, volume I. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York) .
• phage antibodies are first blocked in an equal volume of 4% MPBS for 15 min at 4°C prior to the staining of the RVGP- and control transfected PER.C6TM cells.
• the blocked phages are added to a mixture of unlabelled control transfected PER.C6TM cells and RGVP transfected PER.C6TM cells that have been labelled green using a lipophylic dye (PKH67, Sigma) .
• PHL67 lipophylic dye
• the binding of the phage antibodies to the cells is visualized using a biotinylated anti-M13 antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) followed by streptavidin- phycoerythrin (Caltag) .
• Anti RVGP scFv selectively stains the PER.C6TM RVGP transfectant while they do not bind the control transfectant.
• RVGP-transfected PER.C6TM cells An alternative way of screening for phages carrying single chain Fv fragments specifically recognizing human RVGP, is by use of RVGP-transfected PER.C6TM cells.
• PER.C6TM cells expressing membrane bound RVGP are produced as described supra. Phage selection experiments are performed as described supra, using these cells as target. A fraction of the phage library comprised of scFv-phage particles using only one single scFv species (500 ⁇ l, approximately 10 13 cfu) is blocked with 2 ml RPMI/10%FCS/1%NHS for 15' at RT . Untransfected PER.C6TM cells ( ⁇ 10*10 6 cells) are added to the PER.C6-RVGP cells ( ⁇ 1.0*10 6 cells). This mixture is added to the blocked light chain restricted phage-library and incubated for 2,5 hr while slowly rotating at 4°C.
• the cells are washed twice and were resuspended in 500 ⁇ l RPMI/10%FCS and incubated with a murine anti-RVGP antibody (Becton Dickinson) followed by a phycoerythrin (PE) -conjugated anti-mouse-IgG antibody (Calltag) for 15' on ice.
• the cells are washed once and transferred to a 4 ml tube. Cell sorting is performed on a FACSvantage fluorescence-activated cell sorter (Becton Dickinson) and RVGP (PE positive) cells are sorted.
• the sorted cells are spun down, the supernatant is saved and the bound phages are eluted from the cells by resuspending the cells in 500 ⁇ l 50mM Glycin pH2.2 followed by incubation for 5 min. at room temperature. The mixture is neutralized with 250 ⁇ l 1M Tris-HCl pH 7.4 and added to the rescued supernatant.
• phages are used to prepare an enriched phage library as described above.
• the selection/re-infection procedure is performed twice. After the second round of selection, monoclonal phage antibodies are prepared and tested for binding to RVGP- PER.C6TM cells and untransfected PER.C6TM cells as described supra.
• Phages that are positive on RVGP- transfected cells are subsequently tested for binding to the RVGP-IgG fusion protein in ELISA as described supra.
• the selected scFv fragments are cloned in a human IgGl format, according to methods known in the art (e.g. Boel et al, 2000) .
• the VL fragment shared by the selected scFv is PCR amplified using oligo's that add appropriate restriction sites. A similar procedure is used for the VH genes.
• modified genes are cloned in expression pCRU-KOl (ECACC deposit 03041601) , which results in expression vectors encoding a complete hulgGI heavy chain and a complete human light chain gene having the same specificity as the original phage clone.
• pCRU-RVGP-1 pCU-RVGP-2
• pCRU-RVGP-3 pCRU-RVGP-3
• these three vectors may lack DNA encoding the V L region, which can then be encoded in a fourth, separate expression vector not encoding a heavy chain. It is also possible to have V L sequences present in all three or two of the three vectors comprising the different V H sequences.
• Stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines are generated, according to methods known to the person skilled in the art (see e.g. WO 00/63403), the cell lines expressing antibodies encoded by genetic information on either pCRU- RVGP-1, pCRU-RVGP-2 or pCRU-RVGP-3 and a cell line expressing antibodies encoded by all three plasmids. Therefore, PER.C6TM cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C0 2 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections are performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with either 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-RVGP-1, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-RVGP-2, 1-2 ⁇ g pCRU-RVGP-3 or 1 ⁇ g of a mixture of pCRU-RVGP-1, pCRU-RVGP-2 and pCRU- RVGP-3.
• a few dishes are transfected with a LacZ control vector, while a few dishes will not be transfected and serve as negative controls.
• cells are washed twice with DMEM and refed with fresh medium without selection.
• medium are replaced with fresh medium containing 500 ⁇ g/ml G418.
• Cells are refreshed every 2 or 3 days with medium containing the same concentrations of G418.
• a large number of colonies are visible and from each transfection at least 300 are picked and grown via 96-well and/or 24-well via 6-well plates to T25 flasks.
• cells are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-cultured colony) and production levels of recombinant human IgG antibody are determined in the supernatant using an ELISA specific for human IgG x (described in WO 00/63403) .
• G418 is removed from the culture medium and never re- applied again.
• a limited number of colonies, which screened positive for the production of each of the three binding specificities are subjected to single cell sorting using a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) (Becton & Dickinson FACS VANTAGE SE) .
• FACS fluorescence activated cell sorter
• colonies are seeded at 0.3 cells/well to guarantee clonal outgrowth.
• Clonal cell populations, hereafter designated as sub-clones, are refreshed once a week with fresh medium. Sub-clones are grown and transferred from 96-wells via 24- and 6-wells plates to T25 flasks.
• sub-clones are frozen (at least 1, but usually 4 vials per sub-clone) and production levels of recombinant human IgGi antibody are determined in the supernatant using a human IgGi specific ELISA.
• larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures.
• Purified human IgGi from the various sub-clones is subsequently analyzed as described above for human IgGi obtained from the parental clones, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Isoelectric focusing (IEF) and binding to the target RVGP.
• IEF Isoelectric focusing
• Sub-clones are also screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs pCRU-RVGP-1, pCRU-RVGP-2 and pCRU-RVGP-3. The identity of the PCR products is further confirmed by DNA sequencing. Other methods such as Southern blot and/or FISH can also be used to determine whether each of the three constructs are present in the clonal cell line.
• Sub-clones that are proven to be transgenic for each of the three constructs are brought into culture for an extensive period to determine whether the presence of the transgenes is stable and whether expression of the antibody mixture remains the same, not only in terms of expression levels, but also for the ratio between the various antibody isoforms that are secreted from the cell. Therefore, the sub-clone culture is maintained for at least 25 population doubling times either as an adherent culture or as a suspension culture. At every 4-6 population doublings, a specific production test is performed using the human IgG specific ELISA and larger volumes are cultured to obtain the cell pellet and the supernatant. The cell pellet is used to assess the presence of the three constructs in the genomic DNA, either via PCR, Southern blot and/or FISH.
• the supernatant is used to purify the recombinant human IgGi fraction as described supra.
• Purified human IgGi obtained at the various population doublings is analyzed as described, i.e. by SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding to the target RVGP.
• the efficacy of the antibody mixtures against rabies is tested in in vitro cell culture assays where the decrease in spread of rabies virus is measured, as well as in in vivo animal models infected by rabies. Such models are known to the person skilled in the art, and are e.g. described in EP0402029.
• Example 9 Production of a mixture of antibodies with a common light chain and three different heavy chain variable regions in a single cell.
• a method for producing a mixture of antibodies according to the invention, using expression in a recombinant host cell of a single light chain and three different heavy chains capable of pairing to the single light chain to form functional antibodies, is exemplified herein and is schematically shown in Fig. 6.
• Human IgG' s UBS54 and K53 against the EP-CAM homotypic adhesion molecule (Huls et al., 1999) and the membrane cofactor protein CD46 (WO 02/18948), respectively, are described in Example 1.
• Another clone that was identified to bind to cofactor protein CD46 was clone 02-237 (sequence of VH provided in Fig. 12) .
• DNA sequencing of this clone revealed that it contained the same light chain as UBS54 and K53, but a unique heavy chain variable sequence (see alignment in Fig. 3) .
• the CDR3 of the heavy chain of 02-237 differs at 4 positions from that of K53 (see alignment in Fig. 13) .
• the heavy and light chain variable sequences of phage 02-237 were cloned into the expression plasmid pCRU-KOl, (pCRU-KOl is deposited at the European Collection of Cell Cultures (ECACC) under number 03041601) , which contains the heavy and light chain constant domains for an IgGl antibody.
• the resulting plasmid was designated pgG102-237. Due to the cloning strategy followed, the resulting N-terminus of the light chain of 02-237 as encoded by pgG102-237 differed slightly from the N-terminus of UBS54 and K53 as present by pUBS3000Neo, pCD46_3000 (Neo) , respectively
• Plasmid pgG102-237 was transiently produced in human 293 (T) cells or stably in PER.C6 cells. It appeared that purified 02-237 IgG had a much higher affinity for purified CD46 (Fig. 14) than K53 IgG, i.e. the affinity had increased from 9.1 X 10 "7 M to 2.2 X 10 "8 M for K53 and 02-237, respectively. Also, 02-237 bound much better to CD46 on human coloncarcinoma LS174T cells than K53 (Fig. 15) .
• Stable PER.C6TM derived cell lines expressing a combination of the plasmids pUBS3000Neo, pCD46_3000 (Neo) and pgG102-237 encoding human IgG 02-237 were generated according to methods known as such to the person skilled in the art (see e.g. WO 00/63403). Therefore, PER.C6TM cells were seeded in DMEM plus 10% FBS in tissue culture dishes (10 cm diameter) with approximately 2.5 x 10 6 cells per dish and kept overnight under their normal culture conditions (10% C02 concentration and 37°C) .
• transfections were performed in separate dishes at 37°C using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer, with 2 ⁇ g of an equimolar mixture of pUBS3000Neo, pCD46_3000 (Neo) and pgG102-237. As negative control for selection, a few dishes were not transfected. After 4 to 5 hours, cells were washed twice with DMEM and refed with fresh medium without selection. The next day, medium was replaced with fresh medium containing 500 ⁇ g/ml G418. Cells were refreshed every 2 or 3 days with medium containing the same concentrations of G418.
• the 30 best producing colonies were frozen down in vials and the 19 highest producing clones were selected for purification of the IgG (Table 1) . They were sub-cultured in T80 flasks and human IgG from each clone was subsequently purified using Protein A affinity chromatography. Therefore, 15-25 ml of conditioned medium was loaded on a 5 ml Protein A FF Sepharose column (Amersha Biosciences) . The column was washed with 4 mM phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.4 (PBS) before elution with 0.1 M citrate pH 3.0.
• PBS phosphate buffered saline
• the eluted fraction was subsequently desalted on a Sephadex G25 Fine HiPrep Desalting column (Amersham Biotech) to PBS.
• the concentration of the purified IgG fraction was determined by absorbance measurement at 280 nm using a coefficient of 1.4 for a 0.1% (w/v) solution (Table 1).
• the purified IgG samples were analysed on non-reduced and reduced SDS-PAGE and IEF.
• Non-reduced SDS-PAGE (Fig. 16A) showed that all IgG samples migrated comparable to the control K53 or 02-237, as an assembled, intact IgG molecule of approximately 150 kDa.
• reduced SDS-PAGE (Fig. 16B) , the IgG samples migrated as heavy and light chains of about 50 and 25 kDa, respectively, comparable to the heavy and light chain of the control K53 or 02- 237.
• the purified IgG fractions were first compared to a mixture of equal amounts of K53, UBS54 and 02-237 (Fig. 17) .
• some of the samples contained isoforms with a unique pi profile, when compared to the mixture containing purified K53, UBS54 and 02-237.
• Some major unique isoforms have a pi in between the pi of K53 and 02-237 on one hand and UBS54 on the other hand. This is also anticipated on the basis of theoretic pi when calculated with the ProtParam tool provided on the Expasy homepage (http://www.expasy.ch/ Appel et al., 1994).
• K53, 02-237 and UBS54 have a theoretic pi of 8.24, 8.36 and 7.65, respectively, whereas an isoform representing a heterodimer of one UBS54 heavy chain and one K53 heavy chain has a theoretical pi of 8.01. Assembly of such a heterodimer can only occur when a single cell translates both the heavy chain of K53 and the heavy chain of UBS54 and assembles these into a full length IgG molecule together with the common light chain.
• these results suggest that certain clones at least express two functional antibodies.
• samples of the most interesting clones were run in parallel with K53, UBS54 and 02-237, either alone or in a mixture (Fig. 18) .
• Polyl-280 was analysed by BIACORE for binding to CD46 (Fig. 20).
• the affinity of polyl-280 for CD46 was 2.1 X 10 "8 M, which shows that the IgG mixture contains CD46 binding molecules having the same affinity as 02-237 IgG alone.
• this experiment shows that it is possible to express a mixture of functional IgG molecules comprising three unique heavy chains in a single cell and that next to the homodimers, heterodimers consisting of two binding specificities are also formed.
• the frequency of clones expressing three different heavy chains suggests that it will also be possible to obtain clones expressing at least 4, 5 or more heavy chains, using the same procedure.
• a clone expressing at least 3 heavy chains according to the invention can be used to introduce more heavy chains in a separate round of transfection, for instance by using a different selection marker.
• clones 241, 280 and 402 which were screened positive for the production of each of the three IgG's, both by IEF and MS, were subjected to limiting dilution, i.e. seeded at 0.3 cells/well in 96-wells plate to guarantee clonal outgrowth.
• sub-clones Clonal cell populations, hereafter designated as sub- clones, were refreshed once a week with fresh medium. Sub-clones were grown and transferred from 96-wells via 24- and 6-wells plates, T25, T80 and T175 flasks. At the T80 stage, sub-clones were frozen. Production levels of recombinant human IgGi antibody were determined in the supernatant using a human IgGi specific ELISA. For each parental clone, 3 sub-clones were chosen and cultured in a few T175 flasks to obtain sufficient conditioned medium for purification using Protein A affinity chromatography as described above.
• clone 402 is stably producing a mixture of antibodies.
• cDNA of EpCAM, CD46 and control antigen CD38 were cloned into expression vectors pcDNA (Invitrogen) . These vectors were transfected into CHO (dhfr-) cells using Fugene (Roche) according to the protocol supplied by the manufacturer. Cells were cultured in Iscove's medium containing 10% FBS and HT supplement (Gibco) . After culturing for 2 days, cells were harvested by trypsinization and suspended in PBS-1%BSA (PBSB) for use in FACS analysis.
• PBSB PBS-1%BSA
• Purified IgGl of the clones producing the mixtures of antibodies and control IgGl samples of anti-GBSIII, an anti-CD72 antibody (02-004), as well as antibodies from anti-EpCAM clone UBS54 and anti-CD46 clones K53 and 02- 237 were diluted in PBSB to a concentration of 20 ⁇ g IgGl /ml. 20 ⁇ l of each was added to 200.000 transfected cells and incubated on ice for 1 hour. Thereafter, cells were washed once in ice-cold PBSB. Bound IgG was then detected using incubation with goat-anti-human IgG-biotin followed by streptavidin-PE.
• Table II Tryptic peptides of the variable domains of the light chain of K53/UBS54 and 02-237.
• Table III Tryptic peptides of variable domains of heavy chains of K53, 02-237 and UBS54.
• amino acid residue 1 is a pyroglutamic acid
• Flavell DJ Noss A, Pulford KA, Ling N, Flavell SU. 1997.
• Systemic therapy with 3BIT a triple combination cocktail of anti-CDl9, -CD22, and -CD38-saporin immunotoxins, is curative of human B-cell lymphoma in severe combined immunodeficient mice. Cancer Res 57: 4824-4829.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Immunology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Medicinal Chemistry (AREA)
• Biochemistry (AREA)
• Genetics & Genomics (AREA)
• Molecular Biology (AREA)
• Biophysics (AREA)
• Proteomics, Peptides & Aminoacids (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Pharmacology & Pharmacy (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
• Oncology (AREA)
• Virology (AREA)
• Bioinformatics & Cheminformatics (AREA)
• Microbiology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Cell Biology (AREA)
• Communicable Diseases (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mycology (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• Biotechnology (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Peptides Or Proteins (AREA)
• Hematology (AREA)
• Transplantation (AREA)
• Preparation Of Compounds By Using Micro-Organisms (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Antibodies Or Antigens For Use As Internal Diagnostic Agents (AREA)
• Breeding Of Plants And Reproduction By Means Of Culturing (AREA)
• Measuring Or Testing Involving Enzymes Or Micro-Organisms (AREA)

Priority Applications (24)

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Related Parent Applications (1)

Related Child Applications (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=43768900

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (14)

Cited By (144)

Families Citing this family (160)

Citations (18)

Family Cites Families (191)