Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
  • A61K47/50—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates
  • A61K47/51—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent
  • A61K47/68—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being an antibody, an immunoglobulin or a fragment thereof, e.g. an Fc-fragment
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
  • A61K47/30—Macromolecular organic or inorganic compounds, e.g. inorganic polyphosphates
  • A61K47/42—Proteins; Polypeptides; Degradation products thereof; Derivatives thereof, e.g. albumin, gelatin or zein
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
  • A61K47/50—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates
  • A61K47/51—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent
  • A61K47/68—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being an antibody, an immunoglobulin or a fragment thereof, e.g. an Fc-fragment
  • A61K47/6801—Drug-antibody or immunoglobulin conjugates defined by the pharmacologically or therapeutically active agent
  • A61K47/6803—Drugs conjugated to an antibody or immunoglobulin, e.g. cisplatin-antibody conjugates
  • A61K47/6811—Drugs conjugated to an antibody or immunoglobulin, e.g. cisplatin-antibody conjugates the drug being a protein or peptide, e.g. transferrin or bleomycin
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
  • A61K47/50—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates
  • A61K47/51—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent
  • A61K47/68—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being an antibody, an immunoglobulin or a fragment thereof, e.g. an Fc-fragment
  • A61K47/6801—Drug-antibody or immunoglobulin conjugates defined by the pharmacologically or therapeutically active agent
  • A61K47/6803—Drugs conjugated to an antibody or immunoglobulin, e.g. cisplatin-antibody conjugates
  • A61K47/6811—Drugs conjugated to an antibody or immunoglobulin, e.g. cisplatin-antibody conjugates the drug being a protein or peptide, e.g. transferrin or bleomycin
  • A61K47/6813—Drugs conjugated to an antibody or immunoglobulin, e.g. cisplatin-antibody conjugates the drug being a protein or peptide, e.g. transferrin or bleomycin the drug being a peptidic cytokine, e.g. an interleukin or interferon
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
  • A61K47/50—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates
  • A61K47/51—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent
  • A61K47/68—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being an antibody, an immunoglobulin or a fragment thereof, e.g. an Fc-fragment
  • A61K47/6835—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being an antibody, an immunoglobulin or a fragment thereof, e.g. an Fc-fragment the modifying agent being an antibody or an immunoglobulin bearing at least one antigen-binding site
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P15/00—Drugs for genital or sexual disorders; Contraceptives
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P3/00—Drugs for disorders of the metabolism
  • A61P3/04—Anorexiants; Antiobesity agents
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P3/00—Drugs for disorders of the metabolism
  • A61P3/08—Drugs for disorders of the metabolism for glucose homeostasis
  • A61P3/10—Drugs for disorders of the metabolism for glucose homeostasis for hyperglycaemia, e.g. antidiabetics
• • 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
  • 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
  • A61P43/00—Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P5/00—Drugs for disorders of the endocrine system
  • A61P5/06—Drugs for disorders of the endocrine system of the anterior pituitary hormones, e.g. TSH, ACTH, FSH, LH, PRL, GH
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P5/00—Drugs for disorders of the endocrine system
  • A61P5/10—Drugs for disorders of the endocrine system of the posterior pituitary hormones, e.g. oxytocin, ADH
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P7/00—Drugs for disorders of the blood or the extracellular fluid
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P7/00—Drugs for disorders of the blood or the extracellular fluid
  • A61P7/06—Antianaemics
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P9/00—Drugs for disorders of the cardiovascular system
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
  • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
  • C07K14/475—Growth factors; Growth regulators
  • C07K14/505—Erythropoietin [EPO]
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
  • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
  • C07K14/52—Cytokines; Lymphokines; Interferons
  • C07K14/53—Colony-stimulating factor [CSF]
  • C07K14/535—Granulocyte CSF; Granulocyte-macrophage CSF
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
  • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
  • C07K14/52—Cytokines; Lymphokines; Interferons
  • C07K14/555—Interferons [IFN]
  • C07K14/56—IFN-alpha
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
  • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
  • C07K14/575—Hormones
  • C07K14/61—Growth hormone [GH], i.e. somatotropin
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IG], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
  • C07K16/46—Hybrid immunoglobulins
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K19/00—Hybrid peptides, i.e. peptides covalently bound to nucleic acids, or non-covalently bound protein-protein complexes
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
  • C07K2317/50—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments
  • C07K2317/52—Constant or Fc region; Isotype
• • 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

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a novel use of an immunoglobulin Fc fragment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising an immunoglobulin Fc fragment as a carrier, and a method of improving the in vivo duration of action of a drug linked to an immunoglobulin Fc fragment.
• WO 01/93911 employs a polymer having a plurality of acid moieties as a drug carrier.
• International Pat. Publication No. WO 03/00778_ discloses an anionic group-containing amphiphilic block copolymers that, when used as a drug carrier for a cationic drug, improve the stability of the drug.
• European Pat. No. 0 681 481 describes a method of improving the properties of basic drugs by using cyclodextrin and acids as carriers .
• hydrophobic drugs have low stability in vivo mainly due to their low aqueous solubility. To improve the low aqueous solubility of hydrophobic drugs, International Pat. Publication No.
• WO 04/064731 employs a lipid as a carrier.
• an immunoglobulin Fc fragment as a drug carrier.
• polypeptides are relatively easily denatured due to their low stability, degraded by proteolytic enzymes in the blood and easily eliminated through the kidney or liver, protein medicaments, including polypeptides as pharmaceutically effective components, need to be frequently administered to patients to maintain desired blood level concentrations and titers.
• this frequent administration of protein medicaments, especially through injection causes pain for patients.
• many efforts have been made to improve the serum stability of protein drugs and maintain the drugs in the blood at high levels for a prolonged period of time, and thus maximize the pharmaceutical efficacy of the drugs.
• compositions with sustained activity therefore, need to increase the stability of protein drugs and maintain the titers at sufficiently high levels without causing immune responses in patients.
• a polymer having high solubility such as polyethylene glycol (hereinafter, referred to simply as "PEG")
• PEG polyethylene glycol
• An alternative method for improving the in vivo stability of physiologically active proteins is by linking a gene of physiologically active protein to a gene encoding a protein having high serum stability by genetic recombination technology and culturing the cells transfected with the recombinant gene to produce a fusion protein.
• a fusion protein can be prepared by conjugating albumin, a protein known to be the most effective in enhancing protein stability, or its fragment to a physiologically active protein of interest by genetic recombination (International Pat. Publication Nos. WO 93/15199 and WO 93/15200, European Pat. Publication No. 413,622).
• a fusion protein of interferon-alpha and albumin developed by the Human Genome Science Company and marketed under the trade name of AlbuferonTM' , increased the half- life from 5 hours to 93 hours in monkeys, but it was known to be problematic because it decreased the in vivo activity to less than 5% of unmodified interferon-alpha (Osborn et al., J. Phar. Exp. Ther. 303(2): 540-548, 2002).
• Recombinant DNA technologies were applied to fuse a protein drug to an immunoglobulin Fc fragment.
• interferon Kerean Pat. Laid-open Publication No.
• 5,349,053 ⁇ discloses a fusion protein comprising IL-2 fused to an immunoglobulin Fc fragment through peptide linkage.
• Fc fusion proteins prepared by genetic recombination include a fusion protein of interferon-beta or its derivative and an immunoglobulin Fc fragment (International Pat. Publication NO. WO 00/23472), and a fusion protein of IL-5 receptor and an immunoglobulin Fc fragment (U.S. Pat. NO. 5,712,121), a fusion protein of interferon alpha and the Fc fragment of immunoglobulin G4 (U.S. Pat. No.
• U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,313 discloses a TNFR-IgGl Fc fusion protein, which is prepared by genetic recombination using an IgGl Fc fragment having amino acid alterations in the complement binding region or receptor binding region. Also, other methods of preparing a fusion protein using a modified immunoglobulin Fc fragment by genetic recombination are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.
• Fc fusion proteins produced by genetic recombination have the following disadvantages: protein fusion occurs only in a specific region of an immunoglobulin Fc fragment, which is at an amino- or carboxyl-terminal end; only homodimeric forms and not monomeric forms are produced; and a fusion could take place only between the glycosylated proteins or between the aglycosylated proteins, and it is impossible to make a fusion protein composed of a glycosylated protein and an aglycosylated protein. Further, a new amino acid sequence created by the fusion may trigger immune responses, and a linker region may become susceptible to proteolytic degradation.
• the inventors of the present application conducted a research, and came to a knowledge that, when a drug is administered in the form of being linked to an IgG Fc fragment, the drug has improved in vivo stability while exhibiting a minimal reduction in the in vivo activity.
• FIG. 1 shows the results of chromatography of an immunoglobulin Fc fragment obtained by cleavage of an immunoglobulin with papain
• FIG. 2 shows the results of SDS-PAGE of a purified immunoglobulin Fc fragment (M: molecular size marker, lane 1: IgG, lane 2: Fc)
• FIG. 3 shows the results of SDS-PAGE of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc
• FIG. 4 shows the results of size exclusion chromatography of an IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate that is purified after a coupling reaction
• FIG. 5 shows the results of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of an EPO-PEG-Fc conjugate
• FIGS. 8a to 8c show the results of reverse phase HPLC of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc, IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc and IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugates;
• FIG. 8a to 8c show the results of reverse phase HPLC of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc, IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc and IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugates;
• FIG. 9 is a graph showing the results of pharmacokinetic analysis of a native IFN ⁇ , an IFN ⁇ -40K PEG complex, an IFN ⁇ -PEG-albumin conjugate and an IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate;
• FIG. 10 is a graph showing the results of pharmacokinetic analysis of a native EPO, a highly glycosylated EPO, an EPO-PEG-Fc conjugate and an EPO-PEG-AG Fc conjugate;
• FIG. 11 is a graph showing the results of pharmacokinetic analysis of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc, IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc and IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc conjugates;
• FIG. 12 is a graph showing the pharmacokinetics of a Fab', a Fab'-S-40K PEG complex, a Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate and a Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc conjugate;
• FIG. 13 is a graph showing the in vivo activities of
• FIG. 14 is a graph showing the results of comparison of human IgG subclasses for binding affinity to the Clq complement; and
• FIG. 15 is a graph showing the results of comparison of a glycosylated Fc, an enzymatically deglycosylated DG Fc and an interferon-PEG-carrier conjugate where the carrier is AG Fc produced by E. coli for binding affinity to the
• the present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition
• a pharmaceutical composition comprising an immunoglobulin Fc fragment as a carrier.
• carrier refers to a substance linked with a drug, which typically increases, decreases or eliminates the physiological activity of the drug by binding to the drug.
• a carrier is employed in the present invention for minimizing a decrease in the physiological activity of a drug of interest, linked to the carrier, while enhancing the in vivo stability of the drug.
• the present invention is characterized by employing an immunoglobulin Fc fragment as a carrier.
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment is safe for use as a drug carrier because it is a biodegradable polypeptide that is metabolized in the body. Also, the immunoglobulin Fc fragment has a relatively low molecular weight compared to the whole immunoglobulin molecule, thus being advantageous in the preparation, purification and yield of conjugates due to. Further, since the immunoglobulin Fc fragment does not contain the Fab fragment, whose amino acid sequence differs among antibody subclasses and which thus is highly non-homogenous, it may greatly increase the homogeneity of substances and be less antigenic.
• immunoglobulin Fc fragment refers to a protein that contains the heavy-chain constant region 2 (C H 2) and the heavy-chain constant region 3 (C H 3) of an immunoglobulin, and not the variable regions of the heavy and light chains, the heavy-chain constant region 1 (C H 1) and the light-chain constant region 1 (C L 1) of the immunoglobulin. It may further include the hinge region at the heavy-chain constant region. Also, the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention may contain a portion or the all the heavy-chain constant region 1 (C H 1) and/or the light-chain constant region 1 (C L 1) , except for the variable regions of the heavy and light chains.
• the IgG Fc fragment- may be a fragment having a deletion in a relatively long portion of the amino acid sequence of C H 2 and/or C H 3. That is, the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention may comprise 1) a C H 1 domain, a C H 2 domain, a C H 3 domain and a C H 4 domain, 2) a C H 1 domain and a C H 2 domain, 3) a C H 1 domain and a C H 3 domain, 4) a C H 2 domain and a C H 3 domain, 5) a combination of one or more domains and an immunoglobulin hinge region (or a portion of the hinge region) , and 6) a dimer of each domain of the heavy-chain constant regions and the light-chain constant region.
• the Fc fragment of the present invention includes a native amino acid sequence and sequence derivatives (mutants) thereof.
• An amino acid sequence derivative is a sequence that is different from the native amino acid sequence due . to a deletion, an insertion, a non- conservative or conservative substitution or combinations thereof of one or more amino acid residues.
• amino acid residues known to be important in binding at positions 214 to 238, 297 to 299, 318 to 322, or 327 to 331, may be used as a suitable target for modification.
• a deletion may occur in a complement- binding site, such as a Clq-binding site and an ADCC site.
• Techniques of preparing such sequence derivatives of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment are disclosed in International Pat. Publication Nos. WO 97/34631 and WO 96/32478. Amino acid exchanges in proteins and peptides, which do not generally alter the activity of the proteins, or peptides are known in the art (H. Neurath, R.
• the Fc fragment if desired, may be modified by phosphorylation, sulfation, acrylation, glycosylation, methylation, farnesylation, acetylation, amidation, and the like.
• the aforementioned Fc derivatives are derivatives that have a biological activity identical to the Fc fragment of the present invention or improved structural stability, for example, against heat, pH, or the like.
• these Fc fragments may be obtained from native forms isolated from humans and other animals including cows, goats, swine, mice, rabbits, hamsters, rats and guinea pigs, or may be recombinants or derivatives thereof, obtained from transformed animal cells or microorganisms .
• they may be obtained from a native immunoglobulin by isolating whole immunoglobulins from human or animal organisms and treating them with a proteolytic enzyme.
• a human-derived Fc fragment is a recombinant immunoglobulin Fc fragment that is obtained from a microorganism.
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention may be in the form of having native sugar chains, increased sugar chains compared to a native form or decreased sugar chains compared to the native form, or may be in a deglycosylated form.
• the increase, decrease or removal of the immunoglobulin Fc sugar chains may be achieved by methods common in the art, such as a chemical method, an enzymatic method and a genetic engineering method using a microorganism.
• the removal of sugar chains from an Fc fragment results in a sharp decrease in binding affinity to the Clq part of the first complement component Cl and a decrease or loss in antibody-dependent cell- mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) or complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) , thereby not inducing unnecessary immune responses in vivo.
• ADCC antibody-dependent cell- mediated cytotoxicity
• CDC complement-dependent cytotoxicity
• an immunoglobulin Fc fragment in a deglycosylated or aglycosylated form may be more suitable to the object of the present invention as a drug carrier.
• the term "deglycosylation” refers to that sugar moieties are enzymatically removed from an Fc fragment
• the term "aglycosylation” means that an Fc fragment is produced in an unglycosylated form by a prokaryote, preferably E. coli .
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment may be derived from humans or other animals including cows, goats, swine, mice, rabbits, hamsters, rats and guinea pigs, and preferably humans.
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment may be an Fc fragment that is derived from IgG, IgA, IgD, IgE and IgM, or that is made by combinations thereof or hybrids thereof.
• it is derived from IgG or IgM, which is among the most abundant proteins in human blood, and most preferably from IgG, which is known to enhance the half-lives of ligand-binding proteins.
• the term "combination" means that polypeptides encoding single-chain immunoglobulin Fc fragments of the same origin are linked to a single-chain polypeptide of a different origin to form a dimer or multimer.
• a dimer or multimer may be formed from two or more fragments selected from the group consisting of IgGl Fc, IgG2 Fc, IgG3 Fc and IgG4 Fc fragments .
• the term "hybrid”, as used herein, means that sequences encoding two or more immunoglobulin Fc fragments of different origin are present in a single-chain immunoglobulin Fc fragment.
• domain hybrids may be composed of one to four domains selected from the group consisting of CHI, CH2, CH3 and CH4 of IgGl Fc, IgG2 Fc, IgG3 Fc and IgG4 Fc, and may include the hinge region.
• IgG is divided into IgGl, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 subclasses, and the present invention includes combinations and hybrids thereof.
• Preferred are IgG2 and IgG4 subclasses, and most preferred is the Fc fragment of IgG4 rarely having effector functions such as CDC (complement dependent cytotoxicity) (see, FIGS. 14 and 15) . That is, as the drug carrier of the present invention, the most preferable immunoglobulin Fc fragment is a human IgG4-derived non-glycosylated Fc fragment.
• the human-derived Fc fragment is more preferable than a non- human derived Fc fragment, which may act as an antigen in the human body and cause undesirable immune responses such as the production of a new antibody against the antigen.
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention acts as a drug carrier and forms a conjugate with a drug.
• drug conjugate or “conjugate”, as used herein, means that one or more drugs are linked with one or more immunoglobulin Fc fragments .
• drug refers to a substance displaying therapeutic activity when administered to humans or animals, and examples of the drug include, but are not limited to, polypeptides, compounds, extracts and nucleic acids.
• polypeptide drug Preferred is a polypeptide drug.
• physiologically active polypeptide physiologically active protein
• active polypeptide polypeptide drug
• protein drug protein drug
• the polypeptide drug has a disadvantage of being unable to sustain physiological action for a long period of time due to its property of being easily denatured or degraded by proteolytic enzymes present in the body.
• the polypeptide drug is conjugated to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention to form a conjugate, the drug has increased structural stability and degradation half-life.
• the polypeptide conjugated to the Fc fragment has a much smaller decrease in physiological activity than other known polypeptide drug formulations. Therefore, compared to the in vivo bioavailability of conventional polypeptide drugs, the conjugate of the polypeptide and the immunoglobulin Fc fragment according to the present invention is characterized by having markedly improved in vivo bioavailability. This is also clearly described through embodiments of the present invention. That is, when linked to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention, IFN ⁇ , G-CSF, hGH and other protein drugs displayed an about two- to six-fold increase in vivo bioavailability compared to their conventional forms conjugated to PEG alone or both PEG and albumin (Tables 8, 9 and 10) .
• the linkage of a protein and the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention is featured in that it is not a fusion by a conventional recombination method.
• a fusion form of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment and an active polypeptide used as a drug by a recombination method is obtained in such a way that the polypeptide is linked to the N-terminus or C-terminus of the Fc fragment, and is thus expressed and folded as a single polypeptide from a nucleotide sequence encoding the fusion form. This brings about a sharp decrease in the activity of the resulting fusion protein because the activity of a protein as a physiologically functional substance is determined by the conformation of the protein.
• the present invention makes it possible to produce a conjugate of a glycosylated active polypeptide and an aglycosylated immunoglobulin Fc fragment, and overcomes all of the above problems, including improving protein production yield, because the two components of the complex are individually prepared and isolated by the best systems .
• Non-limiting examples of protein drugs capable of being conjugated to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention include human growth hormone, growth hormone releasing hormone, growth hormone releasing peptide, interferons and interferon receptors (e.g., interferon- ⁇ , - ⁇ and - ⁇ , water-soluble type I interferon receptor, etc.), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G- CSF) , granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM- CSF) , glucagon-like peptides (e.g., GLP-1, etc.), G- protein-coupled receptor, interleukins (e.g., interleukin- 1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, -13, -14, -15, -16, -17, -18, -19, -20, -21, -22, -23, -24, -25, -26, -27,
• An antibody fragment may be Fab, Fab', F (ab') 2, Fd or scFv, which is capable of binding to a specific antigen, and preferably Fab'.
• the Fab fragments contain the variable domain (V L ) and const domain (C L ) of the light chain and the variable domain (V H ) and the first constant domain (C H 1) of the heavy chain.
• the Fab' fragments differ from the Fab fragments in terms of adding several amino acid residues including one or more cysteine residues from the hinge region to the carboxyl terminus of the C H 1 domain.
• the Fd fragments comprise only the V H and C H 1 domain, and the F (ab') 2 fragments are produced as a pair of Fab' fragments by either disulfide bonding or a chemical reaction.
• the scFv (single-chain Fv) fragments comprise the V L and V H domains that are linked to each other by a peptide linker and thus are present in a single polypeptide chain.
• physiologically active polypeptides are those requiring frequent dosing upon administration to the body for therapy or prevention of diseases, which include human growth hormone, interferons (interferon- ⁇ , - ⁇ , - ⁇ , etc.), granulocyte colony stimulating factor, erythropoietin (EPO) and antibody fragments.
• diseases include human growth hormone, interferons (interferon- ⁇ , - ⁇ , - ⁇ , etc.), granulocyte colony stimulating factor, erythropoietin (EPO) and antibody fragments.
• certain derivatives are included in the scope of the physiologically active polypeptides of the present invention as long as they have function, structure, activity or stability substantially identical to or improved compared over native forms of the physiologically active polypeptides.
• the most preferable polypeptide drug is interferon-alpha.
• other drugs are also available in the present invention.
• Non-limiting examples of these drugs include antibiotics selected from among derivatives and mixtures of tetracycline, minocycline, doxycycline, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, erythromycin, cefaclor, cefotaxime, imipenem, penicillin, gentamycin, streptomycin, vancomycin, and the like; anticancer agents selected from among derivatives and mixtures of methotrexate, carboplatin, taxol, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, etoposide, paclitaxel, camtotecin, cytosine arabinoside, and the like; anti-inflammatory agents selected from among derivatives and mixtures of indomethacin, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, piroxicam, probiprofen, diclofenac, and the like; antiviral agents selected from among derivatives and mixtures of acyclovir and
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention is able to form a conjugate linked to a drug through a linker.
• This linker includes peptide and non-peptide linkers .
• Preferred is a non-peptide linker, and more preferred is a non-peptide polymer.
• the term "peptide linker”, as used herein, means amino acids, and preferably 1 to 20 amino acids, which are linearly linked to each other by peptide bonding, and may be in a glycosylated form. With respect to the objects of the present invention, preferred is an aglycosylated form.
• This peptide linker is preferably a peptide having a repeating unit of Gly and Ser, which is immunologically inactive for T cells .
• non-peptide polymer refers to a biocompatible polymer including two or more repeating units linked to each other by a covalent bond excluding the peptide bond.
• non-peptide polymer examples include poly (ethylene glycol) , poly (propylene glycol) , copolymers of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, polyoxyethylated polyols, polyvinyl alcohol, polysaccharides, dextran, polyvinyl ether, biodegradable polymers such as PLA (poly (lactic acid) and PLGA (poly (lactic-glycolic acid), lipid polymers, chitins, and hyaluronic acid.
• the conjugate of the present invention is made at various molar ratios . That is, the number of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment and/or linker linked to a single polypeptide drug is not limited. However, preferably, in the drug conjugate of the present invention, the drug and the immunoglobulin Fc fragment are conjugated to each other at a molar ratio of 1:1 to 10:1, and preferably 1:1 to 2:1.
• the linkage of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention, a certain linker and a certain drug include all covalent bonds except for a peptide bond formed when the Fc fragment and a polypeptide drug are expressed as a fusion protein by genetic recombination, and all types of non-covalent bonds such as hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions, van der Waals forces and hydrophobic interactions.
• the linkage is preferably made by covalent bonds .
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention, a certain linker and a certain drug may be linked to each other at a certain site of the drug.
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention and a polypeptide drug may be linked to each other at an N-terminus or C-terminus, and preferably at a free group, and a covalent bond between the immunoglobulin Fc fragment and the drug is easily formed especially at an amino terminal end, an amino group of a lysine residue, an amino group of a histidine residue, or a free cysteine residue.
• the linkage of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention, a certain linker and a certain drug may be made in a certain direction.
• the linker may be linked to the N-terminus, the C-terminus or a free group of the immunoglobulin Fc fragment, and may also be linked to the N-terminus, the C-terminus or a free group of the protein drug.
• the linker is a peptide linker
• the linkage may take place at a certain linking site.
• the conjugate of the present invention may be prepared using any of a number of coupling agents known in the art.
• Non-limiting examples of the coupling agents include 1, 1-bis (diazoacetyl) -2-phenylethane, glutaradehyde, N-hydroxysuccinimide esters such as esters with 4-azidosalicylic acid, imidoesters including disuccinimidyl esters such as 3, 3'-dithiobis (succinimidylpropionate) , and bifunctional maleimides such as bis-N-maleimido-1, 8-octane.
• the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention comprising an immunoglobulin Fc fragment as a carrier, may be administered via a variety of routes .
• administration means introduction of a predetermined amount of a substance into a patient by a certain suitable method.
• the conjugate of the present invention may be administered via any of the common routes, as long as it is able to reach a desired tissue.
• modes of administration are contemplated, including intraperitoneally, intravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, intradermally, orally, topically, intranasally, intrapulmonarily and intrarectally, but the present invention is not limited to these exemplified modes of administration.
• active ingredients of a composition for oral administration should be coated or formulated for protection against degradation in the stomach.
• the present composition may be administered in an injectable form.
• the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may be administered using a certain apparatus capable of transporting the active ingredients into a target cell .
• the pharmaceutical composition comprising the conjugate according to the present invention may include a pharmaceutically ' acceptable carrier.
• the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier may include binders, lubricants, disintegrators, excipients, solubilizers, dispersing agents, stabilizers, suspending agents, coloring agents and perfumes.
• the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier may include buffering agents, preserving agents, analgesics, solubilizers, isotonic agents and stabilizers.
• the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier may include bases, excipients, lubricants and preserving agents.
• the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may be formulated into a variety of dosage forms in combination with the aforementioned pharmaceutically acceptable carriers.
• the pharmaceutical composition may be formulated into tablets, troches, capsules, elixirs, suspensions, syrups or wafers.
• the pharmaceutical composition may be formulated into a unit dosage form, such as a multidose container or an ampule as a single-dose dosage form.
• the pharmaceutical composition may be also formulated into solutions, suspensions, tablets, capsules and long- acting preparations .
• examples of carriers, exipients and diluents suitable for the pharmaceutical formulations include lactose, dextrose, sucrose, sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, erythritol, maltitol, starch, acacia rubber, alginate, gelatin, calcium phosphate, calcium silicate, cellulose, methylcellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, water, methylhydroxybenzoate, propylhydroxybenzoate, talc, magnesium stearate and mineral oils.
• the pharmaceutical formulations may further include fillers, anti-coagulating agents, lubricants, humectants, perfumes, emulsifiers and antiseptics.
• a substantial dosage of a drug in combination with the immunoglobulin Fc fragment of the present invention as a carrier may be determined by several related factors including the types of diseases to be treated, administration routes, the patient's age, gender, weight and severity of the illness, as well as by the types of the drug as an active component. Since the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention has a very long duration of action in vivo, it has an advantage of greatly reducing administration frequency of pharmaceutical drugs.
• another object of the present invention is to provide a method of improving the in vivo duration of a drug by comprising an immunoglobulin Fc fragment .
• a physiologically active polypeptide-PEG-immunoglobulin Fc fragment conjugate exerts much higher stability than a polypeptide-PEG complex or a polypeptide-PEG-albumin conjugate.
• Pharmacokinetic analysis revealed that IFN ⁇ has a serum half-life increased by about 20 times when linked to 40-kDa PEG (IFN ⁇ -40K PEG complex) and by about 10 times in an IFN ⁇ -PEG-albumin conjugate, compared to the native IFN ⁇ .
• an IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate according to the present invention showed a half-life remarkably increased by about 50 times (see, Table 3) .
• the same result was observed in other target proteins, human growth hormone (hGH) , granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and its derivative ( 17 S-G-CSF) , and erythropoietin (EPO) .
• Protein conjugates according to the present invention displayed increases about 10-fold in mean residence time (MRT) and serum half-life compared to the native forms of the proteins and the forms conjugated to PEG or PEG-albumin (see, Tables 4 to 7) .
• MRT mean residence time
• serum half-life compared to the native forms of the proteins and the forms conjugated to PEG or PEG-albumin
• the protein conjugates of the present invention have extended serum half-lives and mean residence time (MRT) when applied to a variety of physiologically active polypeptides including human growth hormone, interferon, erythropoietin, colony stimulating factor or its derivatives, and antibody derivatives, they are useful for developing long-acting formulations of diverse physiologically active polypeptides .
• MRT mean residence time
• E.XAMPLE 1 Preparation I of IFN ⁇ -PEG-immunoglobulin Fc fragment conjugate ⁇ Step 1> Preparation of immunoglobulin Fc fragment using immunoglobulin An immunoglobulin Fc fragment was prepared as follows. 200 mg of 150-kDa immunoglobulin G (IgG) (Green Cross, Korea) dissolved in 10 mM phosphate buffer was treated with 2 mg of a proteolytic enzyme, papain (Sigma) at 37°C for 2 hrs with gentle agitation. After the enzyme reaction, the immunoglobulin Fc fragment regenerated thus was subjected to chromatography for purification using sequentially a Superdex column, a protein A column and a cation exchange column.
• IgG immunoglobulin G
• papain Sigma
• reaction solution was loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (PBS, pH 7.3), and the column was eluted with the same buffer at a flow rate of 1 ml/min.
• Unreacted immunoglobulin molecules (IgG) and F (ab') 2 which had a relatively high molecular weight compared to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment, were removed using their property of being eluted earlier than the Ig Fc fragment.
• Fab fragments having a molecular weight similar to the Ig Fc fragment were eliminated by protein A column chromatography (FIG. 1) .
• the resulting fractions containing the Ig Fc fragment eluted from the Superdex 200 column were loaded at a flow rate of 5 ml/min onto a protein A column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and the column was washed with the same buffer to remove proteins unbound to the column. Then, the protein A column was eluted with 100 mM sodium citrate buffer (pH 3.0) to obtain highly pure immunoglobulin Fc fragment.
• the Fc fractions collected from the protein A column were finally purified using a cation exchange column (polyCAT, PolyLC Company) , wherein this column loaded with the Fc fractions was eluted with a linear gradient of 0.15-0.4 M NaCl in 10 mM acetate buffer (pH 4.5), thus providing highly pure Fc fractions.
• the highly pure Fc fractions were analyzed by 12% SDS-PAGE (lane 2 in FIG. 2) .
• Step 2 Preparation of IFN ⁇ -PEG complex 3.4-kDa polyethylene glycol having an aldehyde reactive group at both ends, ALD-PEG-ALD (Shearwater) , was mixed with human interferon alpha-2b (hIFN ⁇ -2b, MW: 20 kDa) dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer in an amount of 5 mg/ml) at an IFN ⁇ : PEG molar ratio of 1:1, 1:2.5, 1:5, 1:10 and 1:20.
• human interferon alpha-2b hIFN ⁇ -2b, MW: 20 kDa
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was eluted from the column using 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) as an elution buffer, and interferon alpha not linked to PEG, unreacted PEG and dimer byproducts where PEG was linked to two interferon alpha molecules were removed.
• the purified IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was concentrated to 5 mg/ml .
• the optimal reaction molar ratio for IFN ⁇ to PEG providing the highest reactivity and generating the smallest amount of byproducts such as dimers, was found to be 1:2.5 to 1:5.
• Step 3 Preparation of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate
• the immunoglobulin Fc fragment (about 53 kDa) prepared in the above step 1 was dissolved in 10 mM phosphate buffer and mixed with the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex at an IFN ⁇ -PEG complex: Fc molar ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8.
• Step 4 Isolation and purification of the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate
• the reaction mixture was subjected to Superdex size exclusion chromatography so as to eliminate unreacted substances and byproducts and purify the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate produced.
• 10 mM phosphate buffer pH 7.3 was passed through the column at a flow rate of 2.5 ml/min to remove unbound Fc and unreacted substances, followed by column elution to collect IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate fractions.
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate fractions contained a small amount of impurities, unreacted Fc and interferon alpha dimers, cation exchange chromatography was carried out to remove the impurities.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate fractions were loaded onto a PolyCAT LP column (PolyLC) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium acetate (pH 4.5), and the column was eluted with a linear gradient of 0-0.5 M NaCl in 10 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.5) using 1 M NaCl. Finally, the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate was purified using an anion exchange column.
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate fractions were loaded onto a PolyWAX LP column (PolyLC) equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), and the column was then eluted with a linear gradient of 0-0.3 M NaCl in 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) using 1 M NaCl, thus isolating the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate in a highly pure form.
• EXAMPLE 2 Preparation II of IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate
• Step 1 Preparation of Fc-PEG complex 3.4-kDa polyethylene glycol having an aldehyde reactive group at both ends, ALD-PEG-ALD (Shearwater) , was mixed with the immunoglobulin Fc fragment prepared in the step 1 of Example 1 at Fc: PEG molar ratios of 1:1, 1:2.5, 1:5, 1:10 and 1:20, wherein the Ig Fc fragment had been dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer in an amount of 15 mg/ml. To this mixture, a reducing agent, NaCNBH 3 (Sigma), was added at a final concentration of 20 mM and was allowed to react at 4°C for 3 hrs with gentle agitation.
• a reducing agent NaCNBH 3 (Sigma)
• the reaction mixture was subjected to size exclusion chromatography using a Superdex R column (Pharmacia) .
• the Fc-PEG complex was eluted from the column using 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) as an elution buffer, and immunoglobulin Fc fragment not linked to PEG, unreacted PEG and dimer byproducts where PEG was linked to two immunoglobulin Fc fragment molecules were removed.
• the purified Fc-PEG complex was concentrated to about 15 mg/ml.
• hGH-PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same method as in Example 1, except that drug other than interferon alpha, human growth hormone (hGH, MW: 22 kDa) was used and a hGH: PEG molar ratio was used.
• EXAMPLE 4 Preparation of (G-CSF) -PEG-Fc conjugate A (G-CSF) -PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same method as in Example 1, except that drug other than interferon alpha, human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) , was used and an G-CSF: PEG molar ratio -was 1:5. On the other hand, a 17 S-G-CSF-PEG-Fc protein conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same method as described above using a G-CSF derivative, 17 S-G-
• EPO-PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same method as in Example 1, except that drug other than interferon alpha, human erythropoietin (EPO), was used and an EPO: PEG molar ratio was 1:5.
• EPO human erythropoietin
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate was prepared using PEG having a succinimidyl propionate (SPA) reactive group at both ends, as follows. 3.4-kDa polyethylene glycol, SPA- PEG-SPA (Shearwater) , was mixed with 10 mg of interferon alpha dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer at IFN ⁇ : PEG molar ratios of 1:1, 1:2.5, 1:5, 1:10 and 1:20. The mixture was then allowed to react at room temperature with gentle agitation for 2 hrs .
• SPA succinimidyl propionate
• IFN ⁇ -PEG complex a 1:1 complex of PEG and interferon alpha
• the reaction mixture was subjected to Superdex size exclusion chromatography.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was eluted from the column using 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) as an elution buffer, and interferon alpha not linked to PEG, unreacted PEG and dimer byproducts in which two interferon alpha molecules were linked to both ends of PEG were removed.
• the purified IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was concentrated to about 5 mg/ml, and an IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same methods as in the steps 3 and 4 of Example 1.
• the optimal reaction molar ratio for IFN ⁇ to PEG providing the highest reactivity and generating the fewest byproducts such as dimers, was found to be 1:2.5 to 1:5.
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared according to the same methods as described above using PEG) having an N-hydroxysuccinimidyl (NHS) reactive group at both ends, NHS-PEG-NHS (Shearwater) , or PEG having a buthyl aldehyde reactive group at both ends, BUA-PEG-BUA (Shearwater) .
• EXAMPLE 7 Preparation of protein conjugate using PEG having different molecular weight
• An IFN ⁇ -lOK PEG complex was prepared using 10-kDa polyethylene glycol having an aldehyde reactive group at both ends, ALD-PEG-ALD (Shearwater) .
• This complex was prepared and purified according to the same method as in the step 2 of Example 1.
• the optimal reaction molar ratio for IFN ⁇ to 10-kDa PEG, providing the highest reactivity and generating the fewest byproducts such as dimers was found to be 1:2.5 to 1:5.
• the purified IFN ⁇ -lOK PEG complex was concentrated to about 5 mg/ml, and, using this concentrate, an IFN ⁇ -lOK PEG-Fc conjugate was prepared and purified according to the same methods as in the steps 3 and 4 of Example 1.
• the cultures were further cultured for 40 to 45 hrs until the OD value at 600 nm increased to 120 to 140.
• the fermentation fluid thus obtained was centrifuged at 20,000xg for 30 min.
• the supernatant was collected, and the pellet was discarded.
• the supernatant was subjected to the following three- step column chromatography to purify anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha Fab' .
• the supernatant was loaded onto a HiTrap protein G column (5 ml, Pharmacia) equilibrated with 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and the column was eluted with 100 mM glycine (pH 3.0).
• the collected Fab' fractions were then loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (PBS, pH 7.3), and this column was eluted with the same buffer. Finally, the second Fab' fractions were loaded onto a polyCAT 21x250 column (PolyLC) , and this column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.15-0.4 M in 10 mM acetate buffer (pH 4.5), thus providing highly pure anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha Fab' fractions.
• Step 2 Preparation and purification of Fc-PEG complex
• the immunoglobulin Fc prepared according to the same method as in the step 1 of Example 1 was dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) at a concentration of 5 mg/ml, and was mixed with NHS-PEG-MAL (3.4 kDa, Shearwater) at an Fc: PEG molar ratio of 1:10, followed by incubation at 4°C for 12 hrs with gentle agitation. After the reaction was completed, the reaction buffer was exchanged with 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) to remove unbound NHS-PEG-MAL.
• reaction mixture was loaded onto a polyCAT column (PolyLC) .
• the column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.15-0.5 M in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0). During this elution, the immunoglobulin Fc-PEG complex was eluted earlier than unreacted immunoglobulin Fc, and the unreacted Ig Fc was eluted later, thereby eliminating the unreacted Ig Fc molecules .
• Step 3 Preparation and purification of Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc conjugate (-SH group)
• the Fab' purified in the above step 1 was dissolved in 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3) at a concentration of 2 mg/ml, and was mixed with the immunoglobulin Fc-PEG complex prepared in the above step 2 at a Fab': complex molar ratio of 1:5.
• the reaction mixture was concentrated to a final protein concentration of 50 mg/ml and incubated at 4°C for 24 hrs with gentle agitation.
• the reaction mixture was loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3), and the column was eluted with the same buffer at a flow rate of 1 ml/min.
• the coupled Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc conjugate was eluted relatively earlier due to its high molecular weight, and unreacted immunoglobulin Fc-PEG complex and Fab' were eluted later, thereby eliminating the unreacted molecules.
• Fab' -PEG complex (N-terminus) 40 mg of the Fab' purified in the step 1 of Example 8 was dissolved in 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) at a concentration of 5 mg/ml, and was mixed with butyl ALD- PEG-butyl ALD (3.4 kDa, Nektar) at a Fab': PEG molar ratio of 1:5.
• a reducing agent, NaCNBH 3 was added to the reaction mixture at a final concentration of 20 mM, and the reaction mixture was then allowed to react at 4°C for 2 hrs with gentle agitation.
• the reaction buffer was exchanged with 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0). Then, the reaction mixture was loaded onto a polyCAT column (PolyLC) . The column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.15-0.4 M in 20 mM acetate buffer (pH 4.5). During this column elution, the Fab' -PEG complex comprising the PEG linker lined to the N-terminus of the Fab' was eluted earlier than unreacted Fab' , and the unreacted Fab' was eluted later, thereby eliminating the unreacted Fab' molecules .
• Fab' -N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate To link the Fab' -PEG complex purified in the above step 1 to the N-terminus of an immunoglobulin Fc, the Fab' - PEG complex was dissolved in 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) at a concentration of 10 mg/ml, and was mixed with the immunoglobulin Fc dissolved in the same buffer at a Fab' -PEG complex: Fc molar ratio of 1:5.
• reaction mixture was concentrated to a final protein concentration of 50 mg/ml, a reducing agent, NaCNBH 3 , was added to the reaction mixture at a final concentration of 20 mM, and the reaction mixture was then reacted at 4°C for 24 hrs with gentle agitation. After the reaction was completed, the reaction mixture was loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3), and the column was eluted with the same buffer at a flow rate of 1 ml/min.
• a reducing agent NaCNBH 3
• the coupled Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate was eluted relatively earlier due to its high molecular weight, and unreacted immunoglobulin Fc and Fab' -PEG complex were eluted later, thereby eliminating the unreacted molecules.
• the collected Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate fractions were again loaded onto a polyCAT 21x250 column (PolyLC) , and this column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.15-0.5 M in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0), thus providing a pure Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate comprising the imirtunoglobulin Fc-PEG complex linked to the N-terminus of the Fab' .
• EXAMPLE 10 Preparation and purification of deglycosylated immunoglobulin Fc 200 mg of an immunoglobulin Fc prepared according to the same method as in Example 1 was dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) at a concentration of 2 mg/ml, and was mixed with 300 U/mg of a deglycosylase, PNGase F (NEB) . The reaction mixture was allowed to react at 37°C for 24 hrs with gentle agitation.
• PNGase F PNGase F
• the reaction mixture was loaded onto a SP Sepharose FF column (Pharmacia) , and the column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.1-0.6 M in 10 mM acetate buffer (pH 4.5) using 1 M NaCl.
• the native immunoglobulin Fc was eluted earlier, and the deglycosylated immunoglobulin Fc (DG Fc) was eluted later.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was mixed with the DG Fc dissolved in 10 mM phosphate buffer at IFN ⁇ -PEG complex: DG Fc molar ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8.
• a reducing agent, NaCNBH 3 was added to the reaction solution at a final concentration of 20 mM and was allowed to react at 4°C for 20 hrs with gentle agitation.
• the optimal reaction molar ratio for IFN ⁇ -PEG complex to DG Fc providing the highest reactivity and generating the fewest byproducts such as dimers, was found to be 1:2.
• the reaction mixture was subjected to size exclusion chromatography using a Superdex R column (Pharmacia) so as to eliminate unreacted substances and byproducts and purify the IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc protein conjugate.
• a phosphate buffer pH 7.3 was passed through the column at a flow rate of 2.5 ml/min to remove unbound DG Fc and unreacted substances, followed by column elution to collect IFN ⁇ -PEG—DG Fc protein conjugate fractions. Since the collected IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc protein conjugate fractions contained a small amount of impurities, unreacted DG Fc and
• IFN ⁇ -PEG complex and cation exchange chromatography was carried out to remove the impurities .
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc protein conjugate fractions were loaded onto a PolyCAT LP column (PolyLC) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium acetate (pH
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc protein conjugate was purified using an anion exchange column.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate fractions were loaded onto a PolyWAX LP column (PolyLC) equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), and the column was then eluted with a linear gradient of 0- 0.3 M NaCl in 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) using 1 M NaCl, thus isolating the IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc protein conjugate in a highly pure form .
• EXAMPLE 12 Preparation and purification of recombinant aglycosylated immunoglobulin Fc derivative
• IgG4 Fc derivative 1 expression vector To prepare human immunoglobulin IgG4 heavy chain constant regions, a first derivative (IgG4 delta-Cys), having a nine amino acid deletion at the amino terminus of the native hinge region, and a second derivative (IgG4 monomer) , lacking the hinge region by a deletion of all of twelve amino acids of the hinge region, were prepared.
• a first derivative IgG4 delta-Cys
• IgG4 monomer lacking the hinge region by a deletion of all of twelve amino acids of the hinge region
• RT-PCR was carried out using RNA isolated from human blood cells as a template, as follows. First, total RNA was isolated from about 6 ml of blood using a Qia p RNA blood kit (Qiagen) , and gene amplification was performed using the total RNA as a template and a One-Step RT-PCR kit (Qiagen) . In this PCR, a pair of synthesized primers represented by SEQ ID Nos . 1 and 2 and another pair of synthesized primers represented by SEQ ID Nos. 2 and 3 were used. SEQ ID NO.
• SEQ ID NO. 1 is a nucleotide sequence starting from the 10th residue, serine, of 12 amino acid residues, below, of the hinge region of IgG4.
• SEQ ID NO. 3 was designed to have a nucleotide sequence encoding a C H 2 domain having alanine as a first amino acid residue.
• SEQ ID NO. 2 was designed to have a BamHI recognition site containing a stop codon.
• each of the amplified IgG4 constant region fragments into an expression vector containing an E. coli secretory sequence derivative the pTl4SlSH-4T20V22Q (Korean Pat. No. 38061) developed prior to the present invention by the present inventors was used.
• This expression vector contains a heat-stable enterotoxin secretory sequence derivative that has a nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO. 4.
• a Stul recognition site was inserted into an end of the E.
• the p STII plasmid was treated with Stul and BamHI and subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis, and a large fragment (4.7 kb) , which contained the E. coli heat-stable enterotoxin secretory sequence derivative, was purified. Then, the amplified gene fragments were digested with BamHI and ligated with the linearized expression vector, thus providing pSTIIdCG4Fc and pSTIIG4Mo. The final expression vectors were individually transformed into E.
• coli BL21(DE3) and the resulting transformants were designated as BL21/pSTIIdCG4Fc (HM10932) and BL21/pSTIIdCG4Mo (HM10933) , which were deposited at the Korean Culture Center of Microorganisms (KCCM) on Sep. 15, 2004 and assigned accession numbers KCCM-10597 and KCCM- 10598, respectively. Thereafter, when the cultures reached an OD 6 oo value of 80, an inducer, IPTG, was added to the cultures to induce protein expression. The cultures were further cultured for 40 to 45 hrs until the OD value at 600 nm increased to 100 to 120. . The E.
• coli cells collected from the fermentation fluids were disrupted, and the resulting cell lysates were subjected to two-step column chromatography to purify the recombinant immunoglobulin constant region derivatives present in the cytosol of E. coli.
• 5 ml of a protein-A affinity column (Pharmacia) was equilibrated with PBS, and the cell lysates were loaded onto the column at a flow rate of 5 ml/min. Unbound proteins were washed out with PBS, and bound proteins were eluted with 100 mM citrate (pH 3.0).
• the collected fractions were desalted using a HiPrep 26/10 desalting column (Pharmacia) with 10 mM Tris buffer (pH 8.0).
• EXAMPLE 13 Preparation of conjugate of IFN ⁇ -PEG complex and recombinant AG Fc derivative According to the same methods as in Examples 1 and
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was linked to the N terminus of the IgG4 delta-Cys as an AG Fc derivative prepared in Example 12.
• the coupling reaction After the coupling reaction, unreacted substances and byproducts were removed from the reaction mixture, and the thus-produced IFN ⁇ -PEG-AG Fc protein conjugate (I) was primarily purified using 50 ml of a Q HP 26/10 column (Pharmacia) and further purified by a high- pressure liquid chromatographic assay using a polyCAT 21.5x250 column (polyLC) , thus purifying the conjugate to a high degree.
• the coupling reaction solution was desalted using a HiPrep 26/10 desalting column (Pharmacia) with 10 mM Tris buffer (pH 8.0) .
• reaction solution was then loaded onto 50 ml of a Q HP 26/10 column (Pharmacia) at a flow rate of 8 ml/min, and this column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0-0.2 M to obtain desired fractions.
• the collected fractions were again loaded onto a polyCAT 21.5x250 column equilibrated with 10 mM acetate buffer (pH 5.2) at a flow rate of 15 ml/min, and this column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.1-0.3 M, thus providing highly pure fractions .
• another IFN ⁇ -PEG-AG Fc protein conjugate (II) was prepared using another AG Fc derivative prepared in Example 12, IgG4 monomer.
• an EPO-PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugate was prepared by linking an AG Fc derivative, IgG4 delta-Cys, to the EPO- PEG complex.
• interferon alpha 5 mg was dissolved in 100 mM phosphate buffer to obtain a final volume of 5 ml, and was mixed with 40-kDa activated methoxy-PEG-aldehyde (Shearwater), at an IFN ⁇ : 40-kDa PEG molar ratio of 1:4.
• a reducing agent NaCNBH 3 was added at a final concentration of 20 mM and was allowed to react at 4°C for 18 hrs with gentle agitation.
• Ethanolamine was added to the reaction mixture at a final concentration of 50mM.
• a Sephadex G-25 column (Pharmacia) was used to remove unreacted PEG and exchange the buffer with another buffer.
• this column was equilibrated with two column volumes (CV) of 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5), and was loaded with the reaction mixture. Flow throughs were detected by measuring the absorbance at 260 nm using a UV spectrophotometer.
• CV column volumes
• interferon alpha modified by adding PEG having a higher molecular weight to its N-terminus was eluted earlier, and unreacted PEG was eluted later, thus allowing isolation of only IFN ⁇ -40K PEG.
• the following chromatography was carried out to further purify the IFN ⁇ -40K PEG complex from the collected fractions.
• 3 ml of a PolyWAX LP column (PolyLC) was equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5).
• the collected fractions containing the IFN ⁇ -40K PEG complex was loaded onto the column at a flow rate of 1 ml/min, and the column was washed with 15 ml of the equilibrium buffer. Then, the column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0-100% using 30 ml of 1 M NaCl, thus eluting interferon alpha conjugated to tri-, di- and mono-PEG, sequentially.
• the collected fractions containing the mono-PEG-conjugated interferon alpha were subjected to size exclusion chromatography.
• the fractions were concentrated and loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and the column was eluted with the same buffer at a flow rate of 1 ml/min.
• the tri- and di-PEG-conjugated interferon alpha molecules were removed based on their property of being eluted earlier than the mono-PEG-conjugated interferon alpha, thus isolating the mono-PEG-conjugated interferon alpha in a highly pure form.
• 40- kDa PEG was conjugated to the N-terminus of human growth hormone, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) , and a derivative of G-CSF, thus providing hGH-40K PEG, G-CSF- 40K PEG and 40K PEG- 17 S-G-CSF derivative complexes.
• G-CSF granulocyte colony stimulating factor
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG complex was mixed with human serum albumin (HSA, about 67 kDa, Green Cross) dissolved in 10 mM phosphate buffer at an
• IFN ⁇ -PEG complex albumin molar ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8.
• a reducing agent NaCNBH 3
• the reaction mixture was subjected to size exclusion chromatography using a Superdex R column (Pharmacia) so as to eliminate unreacted substances and byproducts and purify the IFN ⁇ -PEG-albumin protein conjugate produced.
• 10 mM sodium acetate buffer passed through the column at a flow rate of 2.5 ml/min to remove unbound albumin and unreacted substances, followed by column elution to purify only IFN ⁇ - PEG-albumin protein conjugate.
• IFN ⁇ - PEG-albumin protein conjugate fractions contained a small amount of impurities, unreacted albumin and interferon alpha dimers, cation exchange chromatography was carried out to remove the impurities .
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG ⁇ albumin protein conjugate fractions were loaded onto a SP5PW column
• albumin was conjugated to human growth hormone, G-CSF, and a derivative of G-CSF, thus providing hGH-PEG-albumin, G- CSF-PEG-albumin and 17 S-G-CSF-PEG-albumin conjugates.
• the free cysteine residue of the Fab' purified in the step 1 of Example 8 was activated by incubation in an activation buffer (20 mM sodium acetate (pH 4.0), 0.2 mM DTT) for 1 hr. After the buffer was exchanged by a PEG modification buffer, 50 mM potassium phosphate (pH 6.5), maleimide-PEG (MW: 40 kDa, Shearwater) was added thereto at a Fab': 40-kDa PEG molar ratio of 1:10 and was reacted to react at 4°C for 24 hrs with gentle agitation.
• an activation buffer (20 mM sodium acetate (pH 4.0), 0.2 mM DTT) for 1 hr.
• maleimide-PEG MW: 40 kDa, Shearwater
• the reaction solution was loaded onto a Superdex 200 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3), and the column was eluted with the same buffer at a flow rate of 1 ml/min.
• the Fab' conjugated 40-kDa PEG (Fab'-40K PEG) was eluted relatively earlier due to its high molecular weight, and unreacted Fab' was eluted later, thereby eliminating the unreacted Fab' .
• the collected Fab' -4OK PEG complex fractions were again loaded onto a polyCAT 21x250 column (PolyLC) , and this column was eluted with a linear NaCl gradient of 0.15-0.5 M in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 4.5), thus providing a pure Fab'-S-40K PEG complex comprising 40-kDa PEG linked to an -SH group of the Fab' .
• Example 10 the DG Fc prepared in Example 10 was analyzed by non-reduced 12% SDS-PAGE. As shown in FIG. 6b, a DG Fc band was detected at a position, which corresponds to the molecular weight of the native Fc lacking sugar moieties.
• FIG. 4 shows the result of size exclusion chromatography of the purified IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate, wherein a single peak was observed. This result indicates that the purified protein conjugate does not contain multimeric impurities such as a dimer, a trimer or a higher number of monomers .
• a physiologically active polypeptide conjugated to Fc was quantitatively analyzed using an antibody specific to the physiologically active polypeptide, the antibody was prevented from binding to the polypeptide, resulting in a value lower than an actual value calculated by the chromatography.
• an ELISA resulted in an ELISA value corresponding to about 30% of an actual value.
• a reverse phase column (259 VHP54 column, Vydac) was used.
• the column was eluted with a 40-100% acetonitrile gradient with 0.5% TFA, and purities were analyzed by measuring absorbance at 280 nm.
• the samples contain no unbound interferon or immunoglobulin Fc, and all of the protein conjugates, IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc (A), IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc (B) and IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative (C) , were found to have purity greater than 96%.
• mass for each conjugate was analyzed using a high-throughput MALDI-TOF mass spectrophotometer (Voyager DE-STR, Applied Biosystems) .
• Sinapinic acid was used as a matrix.
• 0.5 ⁇ l of each test sample was coated onto a sample slide and air-dried, again mixed with the equal volume of a matrix solution and air- dried, and introduced into an ion source. Detection was carried out in a positive fashion using a linear mode TOF analyzer. Ions were accelerated with a split extraction source operated with delayed extraction (DE) using a delayed extraction time of 750 nsec to 1500 nsec at a total acceleration voltage of about 2.5 kV.
• DE delayed extraction
• FIG. 5 shows the result of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of the EPO-PEG-Fc conjugate
• FIG. 7 shows the results of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc and IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc conjugates.
• the EPO-PEG-Fc protein conjugate was found to have a purity of more than 95% and a molecular weight very close to a theoretical MW.
• EPO was found to couple to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment at a ratio of 1:1.
• Example 10 when the Fc and DG Fc prepared in Example 10 were examined for their molecular weights by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, the DG Fc was found to be 50 kDa, which is about 3-kDa less than native Fc (FIG. 6a) . Since the 3-kDa MW corresponds to the theoretical size of sugar moieties, the results demonstrate that the sugar moieties are completely removed.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG- DG Fc conjugate was found to be 3 kDa lighter, and the IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugate (I) to be about 3-4 kDa lighter, than the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate of 75.9 kDa.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugate (II) coupled to an Fc monomer showed a molecular weight decreased by 24.5 kDa corresponding to the molecular weight of the Fc monomer.
• PEG-DG Fc conjugates and -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative conjugates were individually injected subcutaneously at a dose of 100 ⁇ g/kg.
• blood samples were collected at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 30, 48, 72 and 96 hrs in the control groups, and, in the test groups, at 1, 6, 12, 24, 30, 48, 72, 96, 120, 240 and 288 hrs.
• the blood samples were collected in tubes with an anticoagulant, hepardn, and centrifuged for 5 min using an Eppendorf high-speed micro centrifugator to remove blood cells. Serum protein levels were measured by ELISA using antibodies specific to the physiologically active proteins .
• T maX indicates the time taken to reach the maximal drug serum concentration
• Ti / ? indicates the serum half-life of a drug
• MRT mean residence time
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate had a serum half-life of 90.4 hrs, which was about 50 times higher than that of native IFN ⁇ and about 2.5 times higher than that of IFN ⁇ -40K PEG having a half- life of 35.8 hrs, prepared in Comparative Example 1. Also, the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc protein conjugate of the present invention was found to be superior in serum half-life to IFN ⁇ -PEG- albumin, which has a half-life of 17.1 hrs. On the other hand, as shown in Table 3 and FIG.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc conjugate had a serum half-life of 71.0 hrs, which was almost the same as the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc conjugate, indicating that the deglycosylation of Fc does not greatly affect the in vivo stability of the IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc conjugate.
• the conjugate prepared using the recombinant AG Fc derivative produced by a recombinant method was found to have an effect identical to that of the native form-derived DG Fc.
• the serum half-life of a complex coupled to an Fc monomer was about half that of a complex coupled to a normal Fc dimer.
• human growth hormone also showed an extended serum half-life when conjugated to the IgG Fc fragment according to the present invention. That is, compared to the native form (1.1- hrs), the hGH-40K PEG complex and hGH-PEG-albumin conjugate had slightly increased half-lives of 7.7 hrs and 5.9 hrs, respectively, whereas the hGH-PEG-Fc protein conjugate of the present invention displayed a greatly extended serum half-life of 11.8 hrs.
• the conjugation of the native glycosylated EPO to the Fc fragment also resulted in an increase in serum half-life. That is, EPO had a serum half-life of 9.4 hrs in the native form, and a prolonged serum half-life of 18.4 hrs when highly glycosylated to improve serum stability.
• the EPO—PEG-Fc conjugate comprising EPO coupled to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment according to the present invention, displayed a markedly prolonged serum half-life of 61.5 hrs. Also, when conjugated to the E.
• the half-life of EPO increased to 87.9 hrs, indicating that the aglycosylation of the Fc fragment allows the preparation of a protein conjugate not affecting serum stability of the protein without antibody functions .
• the protein conjugates covalent-bonded to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment through a non-peptide polymer according to the present invention displayed serum half-lives increased several to several tens to that of the native form. Also, when the immunoglobulin Fc was aglycosylated by production in E. coli or deglycosylated by enzyme treatment, its effect of increasing the serum half-life of its protein conjugate was maintained at a similar level.
• the immunoglobulin Fc protein conjugates had much superior serum stability.
• the protein conjugates of the present invention displayed excellent serum stability, indicating that the protein conjugates of the present invention are effective in developing long-acting forms of protein drugs .
• the present protein conjugates have excellent effects on serum stability and MRT in a broad range of proteins including colony stimulating factor derivatives by point mutation compared to conventional PEG- or albumin-conjugated proteins, indicate that the stability and duration-extending effects of the present protein conjugates are applicable to other physiologically active polypeptides .
• the IFN ⁇ -lOK PEG-Fc protein conjugate (Example 7) prepared using a non-peptide polymer, 10-kDa PEG, was evaluated for its serum half-life according to the same method as described above, it showed a serum half-life of 48.8 hrs, which was somewhat shorter than the serum half-life (79.7 hrs) of a protein conjugate prepared using 3.4-kDa PEG.
• the serum half-lives of the protein conjugates decrease with increasing molecular weight of the non-peptide polymer PEG.
• EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 3 Pharmacokinetic analysis II To determine the serum half-lives of the Fab' -S-PEG- N-Fc and Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugates prepared in Example 8 and 9 and the Fab'-S-40K PEG complex prepared in Comparative Example 3, drug pharmacokinetic analysis was carried out according to the same method as in Experimental Example 2 using Fab' as a control, the conjugates and the complex. The results are given in FIG. 12. As shown in FIG. 12, the Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc and Fab'-N- PEG-N-Fc conjugates displayed a serum half-life prolonged two or three times compared to the Fab' or Fab'-S-40K PEG complex .
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc Example 1
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc Example 11
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-recombinant AG Fc derivative Example 13
• IFN ⁇ -40K PEG Comparative Example 1
• IFN ⁇ -PEG-albumin Comparative Example 2
• Nonpegylated interferon alpha-2b available from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls (NIBSC) , was used as a standard material .
• MDBK cells were cultured in MEM (minimum essential medium, JBI) supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin/streptomycin at 37°C under 5% C0 2 condition. Samples to be analyzed and the standard material were diluted with the culture medium to predetermined concentrations, and 100- ⁇ l aliquots were placed onto each well of a 96-well plate. The cultured cells were detached, added to the plate containing the samples in a volume of 100 ⁇ l, and cultured for about 1 hr at 37°C under 5% C0 2 condition.
• VSV vesicular stomatitis virus
• the IFN ⁇ -40K PEG decreased in activity to 4.8% of the native IFN ⁇ .
• a protein conjugate has improved serum stability but gradually decreased activity.
• Interferon alpha was reported to have in vitro activities of 25% when modified with 12-kDa PEG and about 7% when modified with 40-kDa PEG (P. Bailon et al., Bioconjugate Chem. 12: 195-202, 2001). That is, since a protein conjugate has a longer half-life but sharply decreases in biological activity as the molecular weight of PEG moieties increase, there is a need for the development of a protein conjugate having a longer serum half-life and a stronger activity.
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-albumin conjugate displayed a weak activity of about 5.2% compared to the native IFN ⁇ .
• the IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc and IFN ⁇ -PEG-DG Fc conjugates of the present invention exhibited a markedly improved relative activity of 28.1% and 25.7% compared to the native IFN ⁇ .
• the conjugation of IFN ⁇ to the recombinant AG Fc derivative resulted in a similar increase in activity. From these results, it is expected that interferon alpha conjugated to the immunoglobulin Fc fragment has a markedly increased serum half-life and greatly improved pharmaceutical efficacy in vivo.
• Nb2 cells were cultured in Fisher's medium supplemented with 10% FBS (fetal bovine serum), 0.075% NaC0 3 , 0.05 mM 2-mercaptoethanol and 2 mM glutamin, and were further cultured in a similar medium not containing 10% FBS for 24 hrs. Then, the cultured cells were counted, and about 2xl0 4 cells were aliquotted onto each well of a 96- well plate.
• FBS fetal bovine serum
• NaC0 3 fetal bovine serum
• 2-mercaptoethanol 0.05 mM 2-mercaptoethanol
• 2 mM glutamin 2 mM glutamin
• hGH-PEG-Fc The hGH-PEG-Fc, the hGH-40K PEG, the hGH-PEG- albumin, a standard available from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls (NIBSC) as a control, and native human growth hormone (HM-hGH) were diluted and added to each well at various concentrations, followed by incubation for 48 hrs at 37°C under 5% C0 2 condition. Thereafter, to measure cell proliferation activity by determining the cell number in each well, 25 ⁇ l of the Cell Titer 96 Aqueous One Solution Reagent (Promega) was added to each well, and the cells were further cultured for 4 hrs. Absorbance was measured at 490 nm, and a titer for each sample was calculated. The results are given in Table 9, below.
• the increased activity of the immunoglobulin Fc protein conjugates of the present invention is due to the increased serum stability and preserved binding affinity to receptors due to the immunoglobulin Fc or due to the space formed by the non-peptide polymer. These effects are predicted to be applicable to immunoglobulin Fc protein conjugates coupled to other physiologically active proteins .
• 20K PEG-G-CSF (Neulasta) , 40K PEG- 17 S-G-CSF, 17 Ser-G-CSF-PEG- albumin and 17 S-G-CSF-PEG-Fc were compared for intracellular activity.
• a human myeloid cell line, HL-60 ATCC CCL- 240, promyelocytic leukemia patient/36 yr old Caucasian female
• the cultured cells were suspended at a density of about 2.2xl0 5 cells/ml, and DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide, culture grade, Sigma) was added thereto at a final concentration of 1.25%(v/v).
• 90 ⁇ l of the cell suspension was seeded onto each well of a 96-well plate (Corning/low evaporation
• the immunoglobulin Fc protein conjugates coupled to a G-CSF derivative having an amino acid substitution, 17 Ser-G-CSF also displayed similar effects to native G-CSF-coupled protein conjugates.
• the Ser-G-CSF-PEG was previously reported to have a relatively increased serum half-life but a decreased activity compared to nonpegylated 17 Ser-G-CSF (Korean Pat. Laid-open Publication No. 2004-83268) .
• a protein conjugate had increased serum stability but gradually decreased activity.
• the 17 Ser-G-CSF-40K PEG showed a very low activity of less than about 10% compared to the native form.
• Cytotoxicity neutralization assay for the Fab' conjugates An in vitro activity assay was carried out using the Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc. and Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugates prepared in Example 8 and 9 and the Fab'-S-40K PEG complex prepared in Comparative Example 3. Through a cytotoxicity assay based on measuring TNF ⁇ -mediated cytotoxicity, the Fab' conjugates were evaluated to determine whether they .neutralize TNF ⁇ - induced apoptosis in a mouse fibroblast cell line, L929 (ATCC CRL-2148) .
• Fab'-S-PEG-N-Fc and Fab'-N-PEG-N-Fc conjugate and the Fab'-S-40K PEG complex were serially two-fold diluted, and 100- ⁇ l aliquots were placed onto wells of a 96-well plate.
• rhTNF- ⁇ (R&D systems) and actinomycin D (Sigma) used as an RNA synthesis inhibitor were added to each well at final concentrations of 10 ng/ml and 1 ⁇ g/ml, respectively, incubated for 30 min in an incubator at 37°C with 5% C0 2 , and transferred to a microplate for assay.
• L929 cells were added to each well at a density of 5 ⁇ l0 4 cells/50 ⁇ l medium and cultured for 24 hrs in an incubator at 37°C with 5% C0 2 .
• 50 ⁇ l of MTT (Sigma) dissolved in PBS at a concentration of 5 mg/ml was added to each well, and the cells were further cultured for about 4 hrs in an incubator at 37°C with 5% C0 2 .
• 150 ⁇ l of DMSO was added to each well, and the degree of cytotoxicity neutralization was determined by measuring the absorbance at 540 nm.
• the Fab' purified in the step 1 of Example 8 was used. As shown in FIG.
• ⁇ 4-5> Complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) assay To determine whether the derivatives prepared in Examples and proteins corresponding to the constant regions of immunoglobulins, expressed in the E. coli transformants and purified, bind to human Clq, an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was carried out as follows. As test groups, immunoglobulin constant regions produced by the HM10932 and HM10927 transformants, deposited at the Korean Culture Center of Microorganisms (KCCM) on Sep. 15, 2004 and assigned accession numbers KCCM-10597, KCCM-10588, and the derivatives prepared in the above Examples were used.
• KCCM Korean Culture Center of Microorganisms
• a glycosylated immunoglobulin (IVIG- globulin S, Green Cross PBM) and several commercially available antibodies used as therapeutic antibodies were used.
• the test and standard samples were prepared in 10 mM carbonate buffer (pH 9.6) at a concentration of 1 ⁇ g/ml.
• the samples were aliquotted into a 96-well plate (Nunc) in an amount of 200 ng per well, and the plate was coated overnight at 4°C.
• each well was washed with PBS-T (137 mM NaCl, 2 mM KCl, 10 mM Na 2 HP0 4 , 2 mM KH 2 P0 4 , 0.05% Tween 20) three times, blocked with 250 ⁇ l of a blocking buffer (1% bovine serum albumin in PBS-T) at room temperature for 1 hr, and washed again with the same PBS-T three times.
• a blocking buffer 1% bovine serum albumin in PBS-T
• the IVIG used in this test which is a pool of IgG subclasses, exhibited a Clq binding affinity almost the same as the purified IgGl because IgGl amounts to most of the IVIG.
• IgGl Fc having the strongest complement activity markedly decreased when aglycosylated.
• IgG4 Fc known not to induce complement activation, rarely had binding affinity to Clq, indicating that the IgG4 Fc is used as an excellent recombinant carrier with no complement activity (FIG. 14) .
• IFN alpha-Fc conjugates were prepared using glycosylated Fc, enzymatically deglycosylated Fc and aglycosylated recombinant Fc as carriers for IFN alpha and were evaluated for their binding affinity to Clq.
• a glycosylated Fc- coupled IFN alpha conjugate IFN ⁇ -PEG-Fc: Glycosylated IgGlFc maintained a high binding affinity to Clq.
• interferon alpha was coupled to an Fc deglycosylated using PNGase F .
• the resulting conjugate (IFN ⁇ -PEG-DGFc: Deglycosylated IgGlFc) displayed a markedly decreased binding affinity to Clq, which was similar to that of the E. coli-derived aglycosylated Fc conjugate.
• the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention greatly increases plasma half-lives of drugs .
• the protein conjugates overcome the most significant disadvantage of conventional long-acting formulations, decreasing drug titers, thus having blood circulation time and in vivo activity superior to albumin, previously known to be most effective.
• the protein conjugates have no risk of inducing immune responses. Due to these advantages, the protein conjugates are useful for developing long-acting formulations of protein drugs .
• the long-acting formulations of protein drugs according to the present invention are capable of reducing the patient's pain from frequent injections, and of maintaining serum concentrations of active polypeptides for a prolonged period of time,- thus stably providing pharmaceutical efficacy.
• the present method of preparing a protein conjugate overcomes disadvantages of fusion protein production by genetic manipulation, including difficult establishment of expression systems, glycosylation different from a native form, immune response induction and limited orientation of protein fusion, low yields due to non-specific reactions, and problems of chemical coupling such as toxicity of chemical compounds used as binders, thereby easily economically providing protein drugs with extended serum half-life and high activity.

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