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  • C07K16/461—Igs containing Ig-regions, -domains or -residues form different species
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  • 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
  • C07K16/283—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 Fc-receptors, e.g. CD16, CD32, CD64
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  • 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
  • C07K16/2854—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 against selectins, e.g. CD62
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  • 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
  • C07K16/2863—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants against receptors for growth factors, growth regulators
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  • G01N33/50—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing
  • G01N33/53—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor
  • G01N33/5306—Improving reaction conditions, e.g. reduction of non-specific binding, promotion of specific binding
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G01N33/48—Biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Haemocytometers
  • G01N33/50—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing
  • G01N33/53—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor
  • G01N33/577—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor involving monoclonal antibodies binding reaction mechanisms characterised by the use of monoclonal antibodies; monoclonal antibodies per se are classified with their corresponding antigens
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  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N33/00—Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
  • G01N33/48—Biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Haemocytometers
  • G01N33/50—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing
  • G01N33/68—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing involving proteins, peptides or amino acids
  • G01N33/6854—Immunoglobulins
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N33/00—Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
  • G01N33/48—Biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Haemocytometers
  • G01N33/50—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing
  • G01N33/68—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing involving proteins, peptides or amino acids
  • G01N33/6854—Immunoglobulins
  • G01N33/6857—Antibody fragments
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  • C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
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  • C07K2317/24—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by taxonomic origin containing regions, domains or residues from different species, e.g. chimeric, humanized or veneered
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  • C07K2317/524—CH2 domain
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  • C07K2317/56—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by immunoglobulin fragments variable (Fv) region, i.e. VH and/or VL
  • C07K2317/565—Complementarity determining region [CDR]
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  • C07K2317/92—Affinity (KD), association rate (Ka), dissociation rate (Kd) or EC50 value

Definitions

• the present invention relates to antibodies against variant Fc-regions (anti-variant Fc-region antibodies) which specifically bind to variant Fc-regions while not binding to the corresponding wild-type Fc-region. Also reported herein are methods for their production and uses thereof.
• Mammals usually have between about 10 to about 30 milligram of immunoglobulin per ml in the circulation.
• Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies typically have to be tested with serum levels ranging from about between 1 nanogram per ml to about 100 microgram per ml.
• the therapeutic antibody thus has to be detected against a background of host antibodies which is in an excess of about 100-fold to 10 million- fold.
• the detection of a human or humanized therapeutic antibody in the background of host immunoglobulin represents quite a significant task to the pharmacologist.
• different therapeutic antibodies may require different reagents and assay formats. The detection of a human or humanized antibody becomes more and more difficult the closer the therapeutic antibody is related to wild-type human antibodies.
• the enzyme linked immunosorbent sandwich assay (ELISA) bridging assay ( Figure 1A) represents the state of the art assay format for immunogenicity testing due to its high throughput and sensitivity and its easy applicability to different projects (Mikulskis, A., et al, J. Immunol. Meth. 365 (2011) 38-49).
• reliability of this assay is challenged by both the interference due to oligomeric target leading to false positive results (Bautista, A.C., et al., Bioanal. 2 (2010) 721-731; Mire-Sluis, A.R., et al, J. Immunol. Meth.
• bridging assays for detection of anti-drug antibodies are often hampered by oligomeric targets and high drug concentrations, improved approaches are required.
• a drug- and target-tolerant immune complex assay is reported herein, employing a capture antibody specific for the substitution within the Fc-region, e.g. an anti-PG antibody, and a human soluble Fey receptor for detection.
• the assay as reported herein has increased drug an oligomeric target tolerance compared to the conventional bridging assay (Wessels, U., et al, Bioanalysis 8 (2016) 2135-2145).
• the human soluble Fcgamma receptor such as e.g. the human soluble FcyRI, specifically binds to wild-type (wt) IgG but no to Fc-region modified IgG.
• One aspect as reported herein is an assay for the determination of the presence and/or amount of anti-drug antibodies in a (serum containing) sample comprising the following steps: incubating the sample with an antibody specifically binding to an antibody lacking Fc effector function (by introduction of one or more substitution(s) within the Fc-region) to capture the antibody lacking Fc effector function from the sample (including free and ADA complexed antibody), detecting the captured antibody by incubating the captured antibody with human soluble FcyRI, and determining the presence and/or amount of anti-drug antibody in the sample.
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for the in vitro determination of the presence and/or the amount of a binding partner, which can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of a multispecific binder, wherein binding partner bound to the multispecific binder is depleted prior to the detection of the binding partner by incubating the sample with a monospecific binder specifically binding to a second binding specificity of the multispecific binder, comprising the following steps: - incubating a sample comprising binding partner and multispecific binder with an monospecific binder that specifically binds to a second binding specificity of the multispecific binder which is different from the first binding specificity, depleting the monospecific binder-multispecific binder-complex from the sample prior to the determination of the presence or the amount of free binding partner, and determining the amount of the binding partner in the multispecific binder-depleted sample with a method as reported in the previous aspect.
• One aspect as reported herein is an isolated antibody that specifically binds to an Fc-region comprising at positions 253, 310 and 435 each the amino acid residue alanine (numbering according to Kabat EU index) comprising (a) a HVR-Hl comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 09 or 10; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12, 13 or 14; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17 or 18; (d) a HVR-L1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23 or 24; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 26; and (f) a HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28, 29 or 30.
• anti-AAA antibody This antibody is denoted as anti-AAA antibody in the following.
• One aspect as reported herein is an isolated antibody that that specifically binds to an Fc-region comprising at position 329 the amino acid residue glycine (and optionally at positions 234 and 235 each the amino acid residue alanine) (numbering according to Kabat EU index) comprising (a) a HVR-Hl comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 22; (d) a HVR-L1 comprising the amino acid sequence of
• anti-PG antibody This antibody is denoted as anti-PG antibody in the following.
• the antibody is a monoclonal antibody. In one embodiment the antibody is a human, humanized, or chimeric antibody. In one embodiment the antibody is an antibody fragment that specifically binds to the respective mutated Fc-region.
• One aspect as reported herein is an isolated nucleic acid encoding an antibody as reported herein.
• One aspect as reported herein is a host cell comprising the nucleic acid as reported herein.
• the host cell is a eukaryotic cell.
• the eukaryotic cell is a mammalian cell.
• the mammalian cell is a CHO cell or a HEK cell.
• One aspect is a method of producing an antibody comprising culturing the host cell as reported herein so that the antibody is produced.
• In one embodiment comprises the method the steps of cultivating the cell as reported herein comprising the nucleic acid encoding the antibody as reported herein and recovering the antibody from the cell or the cultivation medium.
• One aspect as reported herein is a conjugate comprising the antibody as reported herein conjugated to a detectable label.
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein in an immunoassay either as capture antibody or as tracer antibody for the determination of a therapeutic antibody of the IgGl or IgG4 subclass comprising the mutation P329G or the mutations P329G/L234A/L235A or the mutations
• I253A/H310A/H435A in the Fc-region (in a sample) (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of two different antibodies as reported herein in an immunoassay as capture antibody and as tracer antibody for the determination of a therapeutic antibody of the IgGl or IgG4 subclass comprising the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A in a sample whereby the capture antibody and the tracer antibody differ in their HVR sequences (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein in an immunoassay either as capture antibody or as tracer antibody for the determination of anti-drug antibodies against a therapeutic antibody of the IgGl or IgG4 subclass wherein the Fc-region of the therapeutic antibody comprises the mutation P329G or the mutations P329G/L234A/L235A or the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A (in a sample) (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• FIGURES Figure 1 Scheme of an immunoassay using the antibody as reported herein as capture reagent.
• FIG. 5 Scheme of an immunoassay using the antibody as reported herein as capture antibody and a soluble Fcgamma receptor as tracer molecule.
• Figure 6 Scheme of an immunoassay using the antibody as reported herein as capture antibody and an anti-target antibody as tracer antibody.
• Figure 7 Exemplary time course of ADA occurrence in 4 patients of a clinical trial: patients had received biweekly (A,C) or weekly administrations (B) of the therapeutic antibody (10 mg each dose), and blood samples were collected daily before and after each dose (C2, C3: second and third treatment cycle). All samples were tested for anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) by both the conventional bridging (light grey bars) and the hsFcyPJ-PG assay (black bars). Blood drug concentrations (ng/ml) are provided
• Kabat numbering system see pages 647-660 of Kabat, et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1991) is used for the light chain constant domain CL of kappa and lambda isotype and the Kabat EU index numbering system (see pages 647-660) of Kabat, et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1991) is used for the light chain constant domain CL of kappa and lambda isotype and the Kabat EU index numbering system (see pages 647-660) of Kabat, et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1991) is used for the light chain constant domain CL of kappa and lambda isotype and the Kabat EU
• 661-723) is used for the constant heavy chain domains (CHI, Hinge, CH2 and CH3).
• acceptor human framework for the purposes herein is a framework comprising the amino acid sequence of a light chain variable domain (VL) framework or a heavy chain variable domain (VH) framework derived from a human immunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework, as defined below.
• An acceptor human framework "derived from” a human immunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework may comprise the same amino acid sequence thereof, or it may contain amino acid sequence changes. In some embodiments, the number of amino acid changes are 10 or less, 9 or less, 8 or less,
• the VL acceptor human framework is identical in sequence to the VL human immunoglobulin framework sequence or human consensus framework sequence.
• Binding affinity refers to intrinsic binding affinity which reflects a 1 : 1 interaction between members of a binding pair (e.g., antibody and antigen).
• the affinity of a molecule X for its partner Y can generally be represented by the dissociation constant (kj). Affinity can be measured by common methods known in the art, including those described herein.
• an “affinity matured” antibody refers to an antibody with one or more alterations in one or more hypervariable regions (HVRs), compared to a parent antibody which does not possess such alterations, such alterations resulting in an improvement in the affinity of the antibody for antigen.
• HVRs hypervariable regions
• alteration denotes the mutation, addition, or deletion of one or more amino acid residues in a parent amino acid sequence, e.g. of an antibody or fusion polypeptide comprising at least an FcRn binding portion of an Fc-region, to obtain a variant antibody or fusion polypeptide.
• amino acid mutation denotes a modification in the amino acid sequence of a parent amino acid sequence. Exemplary modifications include amino acid substitutions, insertions, and/or deletions. In one embodiment the amino acid mutation is a substitution.
• amino acid mutations at the position denotes the substitution or deletion of the specified residue, or the insertion of at least one amino acid residue adjacent the specified residue.
• insertion adjacent to a specified residue denotes the insertion within one to two residues thereof. The insertion may be N-terminal or C-terminal to the specified residue.
• amino acid substitution denotes the replacement of at least one amino acid residue in a predetermined parent amino acid sequence with a different
• replacement residue or residues may be a "naturally occurring amino acid residue" (i.e. encoded by the genetic code) and selected from the group consisting of: alanine (Ala); arginine (Arg); asparagine (Asn); aspartic acid (Asp); cysteine (Cys); glutamine (Gin); glutamic acid (Glu); glycine (Gly); histidine (His); isoleucine (He): leucine (Leu); lysine (Lys); methionine (Met); phenylalanine (Phe); proline (Pro); serine (Ser); threonine (Thr); tryptophan (Trp); tyrosine (Tyr); and valine (Val).
• the replacement residue is not cysteine.
• substitution with one or more non-naturally occurring amino acid residues is also encompassed by the definition of an amino acid substitution herein.
• a "non-naturally occurring amino acid residue” denotes a residue, other than those naturally occurring amino acid residues listed above, which is able to covalently bind adjacent amino acid residues(s) in a polypeptide chain. Examples of non-naturally occurring amino acid residues include norleucine, ornithine, norvaline, homoserine, aib and other amino acid residue analogues such as those described in Ellman, et al., Meth. Enzym. 202 (1991) 301-336.
• Non-naturally occurring amino acid residues can be generated by the procedures of Noren, et al. (Science 244 (1989) 182) and/or Ellman, et al. (supra). Briefly, these procedures involve chemically activating a suppressor tR A with a non-naturally occurring amino acid residue followed by in vitro transcription and translation of the RNA. Non-naturally occurring amino acids can also be incorporated into peptides via chemical peptide synthesis and subsequent fusion of these peptides with recombinantly produced polypeptides, such as antibodies or antibody fragments.
• amino acid insertion denotes the incorporation of at least one additional amino acid residue into a predetermined parent amino acid sequence. While the insertion will usually consist of the insertion of one or two amino acid residues, the present application contemplates larger "peptide insertions", e.g. insertion of about three to about five or even up to about ten amino acid residues. The inserted residue(s) may be naturally occurring or non-naturally occurring as defined above.
• amino acid deletion denotes the removal of at least one amino acid residue at a predetermined position in an amino acid sequence.
• anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody and "an antibody that specifically binds to a variant (human) Fc-region” refer to an antibody that is capable of binding a variant (human) Fc-region with sufficient affinity such that the antibody is useful as a diagnostic agent in targeting a variant (human) Fc-region.
• the extent of binding of an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody to the corresponding wild-type (human) Fc-region is less than about 10 % of the binding of the antibody to the variant (human) Fc-region. This can be determined e.g. using Surface Plasmon Resonance.
• an antibody that specifically binds to a variant (human) Fc-region has a dissociation constant (K D ) of 10 "8 M or less, e.g. from 10 "8 M to 10 "13 M, e.g., from 10 "9 M to 10 " 13 M).
• K D dissociation constant
• the term “antibody” herein is used in the broadest sense and encompasses various antibody structures, including but not limited to monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal antibodies, multispecific antibodies (e.g., bispecific antibodies), and antibody fragments so long as they exhibit the desired antigen-binding activity.
• antibody fragment refers to a molecule other than an intact antibody that comprises a portion of an intact antibody that binds the antigen to which the intact antibody binds.
• antibody fragments include but are not limited to Fv, Fab, Fab', Fab'-SH, F(ab') 2 ; diabodies; linear antibodies; single-chain antibody molecules (e.g. scFv); and multispecific antibodies formed from antibody fragments.
• binding to denotes the binding of a first entity to a second entity, such as e.g. of an antibody to its antigen. This binding can be determined using, for example, a BIAcore® assay (GE Healthcare, Uppsala, Sweden).
• the antigen is bound to a surface and binding of the antibody is measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR).
• SPR surface plasmon resonance
• the affinity of the binding is defined by the terms k a (association constant: rate constant for the association to form a complex), kj (dissociation constant; rate constant for the dissociation of the complex), and K D (k d /k a ).
• the binding signal of a SPR sensorgram can be compared directly to the response signal of a reference, with respect to the resonance signal height and the dissociation behaviors.
• CH2 domain denotes the part of an antibody heavy chain polypeptide that extends approximately from EU position 231 to EU position 340 (EU numbering system according to Kabat).
• the CH2 domain is unique in that it is not closely paired with another domain. Rather, two N-linked branched carbohydrate chains are interposed between the two CH2 domains of an intact native Fc-region. It has been speculated that the carbohydrate may provide a substitute for the domain-domain pairing and help stabilize the CH2 domain.
• CH3 domain denotes the part of an antibody heavy chain polypeptide that extends approximately from EU position 341 to EU position 446.
• chimeric antibody refers to an antibody in which a portion of the heavy and/or light chain is derived from a particular source or species, while the remainder of the heavy and/or light chain is derived from a different source or species.
• the "class” of an antibody refers to the type of constant domain or constant region possessed by its heavy chain. There are five major classes of antibodies: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM, and several of these may be further divided into subclasses
• immunoglobulins e.g., IgGi, IgG 2 , IgG 3 , IgG 4 , IgA ls and IgA 2 .
• the heavy chain constant domains that correspond to the different classes of immunoglobulins are called a, ⁇ , ⁇ , ⁇ , and ⁇ , respectively.
• complement-dependent cytotoxicity refers to lysis of cells induced by the antibody as reported herein in the presence of complement. CDC is found if the antibody induces lysis of 20 % or more of the target cells at a concentration of 30 ⁇ g/ml. Binding to the complement factor Clq can be measured in an ELISA. In such an assay in principle an ELISA plate is coated with concentration ranges of the antibody, to which purified human Clq or human serum is added. Clq binding is detected by an antibody directed against Clq followed by a peroxidase-labeled conjugate.
• Detection of binding is measured as optical density at 405 nm (OD405) for peroxidase substrate ABTS® (2,2'-azino-di-[3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonate (6)]).
• Antibody effector functions refer to those biological activities attributable to the Fc-region of an antibody, which vary with the antibody class. Examples of antibody effector functions include: Clq binding and complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC); Fc receptor binding; antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC); phagocytosis; down regulation of cell surface receptors (e.g. B cell receptor); and B cell activation.
• Fc receptor binding dependent effector functions can be mediated by the interaction of the Fc-region of an antibody with Fc receptors (FcRs), which are specialized cell surface receptors on hematopoietic cells.
• Fc receptors belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily, and have been shown to mediate both the removal of antibody-coated pathogens by phagocytosis of immune complexes, and the lysis of erythrocytes and various other cellular targets (e.g. tumor cells) coated with the corresponding antibody, via antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) (see e.g. Van de Winkel, J.G. and Anderson, C.L., J. Leukoc. Biol. 49 (1991) 511-524).
• ADCC antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity
• FcRs are defined by their specificity for immunoglobulin isotypes: Fc receptors for IgG antibodies are referred to as FcyR. Fc receptor binding is described e.g. in Ravetch, J.V. and Kinet, J.P., Annu. Rev. Immunol. 9 (1991) 457-492; Capel, P.J., et al, Immunomethods 4 (1994) 25-34; de Haas, M., et al, J. Lab. Clin. Med. 126 (1995) 330-341; Gessner, J.E., et al, Ann. Hematol. 76 (1998) 231-248.
• FcyR Fc-region of IgG antibodies
• FcyRI binds monomeric IgG with high affinity and is expressed on macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils.
• Modification in the Fc- region IgG at least at one of the amino acid residues E233-G236, P238, D265, N297, A327 and P329 (numbering according to EU index of Kabat) reduce binding to FcyRI.
• FcyRII binds complexed IgG with medium to low affinity and is widely expressed. This receptor can be divided into two sub-types, FcyRIIA and FcyRIIB.
• FcyRIIA is found on many cells involved in killing (e.g. macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils) and seems able to activate the killing process.
• FcyRIIB seems to play a role in inhibitory processes and is found on B-cells, macrophages and on mast cells and eosinophils. On B-cells it seems to function to suppress further immunoglobulin production and isotype switching to, for example, the IgE class.
• FcyRIIB acts to inhibit phagocytosis as mediated through FcyRIIA.
• the B-form may help to suppress activation of these cells through IgE binding to its separate receptor.
• Reduced binding for FcyRIIA is found e.g. for antibodies comprising an IgG Fc-region with mutations at least at one of the amino acid residues E233-G236, P238, D265, N297, A327, P329, D270, Q295, A327, R292, and K414 (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• FcyRIIIA is found on NK cells, macrophages, eosinophils and some monocytes and T cells and mediates ADCC.
• FcyRIIIB is highly expressed on neutrophils.
• Reduced binding to FcyRIIIA is found e.g. for antibodies comprising an IgG Fc-region with mutation at least at one of the amino acid residues E233-G236, P238, D265, N297, A327, P329, D270, Q295, A327, S239, E269, E293, Y296, V303, A327, K338 and D376 (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• Fc receptor refers to activation receptors characterized by the presence of a cytoplasmatic IT AM sequence associated with the receptor (see e.g. Ravetch, J.V. and BoUand, S., Annu. Rev. Immunol. 19 (2001) 275-290). Such receptors are FcyRI, FcyRIIA and FcyRIIIA.
• no binding of FcyR denotes that at an antibody concentration of 10 ⁇ g/ml the binding of an antibody as reported herein to NK cells is 10 % or less of the binding found for anti-OX40L antibody LC.001 as reported in WO 2006/029879.
• IgG4 shows reduced FcR binding
• antibodies of other IgG subclasses show strong binding.
• Gln311, Asn434, and His435 are residues which provide if altered also reduce FcR binding (Shields, R.L., et al. J. Biol. Chem. 276 (2001) 6591-6604; Lund, J., et al, FASEB J. 9 (1995) 115-119; Morgan, A., et al, Immunology 86 (1995) 319-324; and EP 0 307 434).
• the antibody as reported herein is of IgGl or IgG2 subclass and comprises the mutation PVA236, GLPSS331, and/or
• the antibody as reported herein is of IgG4 subclass and comprises the mutation L235E. In one embodiment the antibody further comprises the mutation S228P.
• Fc-region herein is used to define a C-terminal region of an immunoglobulin heavy chain that contains at least a portion of the constant region.
• a human IgG heavy chain Fc-region extends from Cys226, or from Pro230, to the carboxyl-terminus of the heavy chain.
• the C-terminal lysine (Lys447) of the Fc-region may or may not be present.
• numbering of amino acid residues in the Fc-region or constant region is according to the EU numbering system, also called the EU index, as described in Kabat, E.A. et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1991), NIH Publication 91-3242.
• the antibodies as reported herein comprise as Fc-region, in one embodiment an Fc- region derived from human origin. In one embodiment the Fc-region comprises all parts of the human constant region.
• the Fc-region of an antibody is directly involved in complement activation, Clq binding, C3 activation and Fc receptor binding. While the influence of an antibody on the complement system is dependent on certain conditions, binding to Clq is caused by defined binding sites in the Fc-region. Such binding sites are known in the state of the art and described e.g. by Lukas, T.J., et al, J. Immunol. 127 (1981) 2555-2560; Brunhouse, R., and Cebra, J.J., Mol. Immunol.
• binding sites are e.g.
• L234, L235, D270, N297, E318, K320, K322, P331 and P329 numbering according to EU index of Kabat; Unless otherwise specified herein, numbering of amino acid residues in the Fc-region or constant region is according to the EU numbering system, also called the EU index, as described in Kabat, E.A. et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1991), NIH Publication 91-3242).
• Antibodies of subclass IgGl, IgG2 and IgG3 usually show complement activation, Clq binding and C3 activation, whereas IgG4 do not activate the complement system, do not bind Clq and do not activate C3.
• An "Fc- region of an antibody" is a term well known to the skilled artisan and defined on the basis of papain cleavage of antibodies.
• the Fc-region is a human Fc-region.
• the Fc-region is of the human IgG4 subclass comprising the mutations S228P and/or L235E (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• the Fc-region is of the human IgGl subclass comprising the mutations L234A and L235A (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• FR Framework or "FR” refers to variable domain residues other than hypervariable region (HVR) residues.
• the FR of a variable domain generally consists of four FR domains: FR1, FR2, FR3, and FR4. Accordingly, the HVR and FR sequences generally appear in the following sequence in VH (or VL): FR1-H1(L1)-FR2- H2(L2)-FR3-H3(L3)-FR4.
• full length antibody “intact antibody”, and “whole antibody” are used herein interchangeably to refer to an antibody having a structure substantially similar to a native antibody structure or having heavy chains that contain an Fc- region as defined herein.
• host cell refers to cells into which exogenous nucleic acid has been introduced, including the progeny of such cells.
• Host cells include “transformants” and “transformed cells,” which include the primary transformed cell and progeny derived therefrom without regard to the number of passages. Progeny may not be completely identical in nucleic acid content to a parent cell, but may contain mutations. Mutant progeny that have the same function or biological activity as screened or selected for in the originally transformed cell are included herein.
• a "human consensus framework” is a framework which represents the most commonly occurring amino acid residues in a selection of human immunoglobulin VL or VH framework sequences.
• the selection of human immunoglobulin VL or VH sequences is from a subgroup of variable domain sequences.
• the subgroup of sequences is a subgroup as in Kabat, E.A. et al, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th ed., Bethesda MD (1991), NIH Publication 91-3242, Vols. 1-3.
• the subgroup is subgroup kappa I as in Kabat et al, supra.
• the subgroup III is subgroup III as in Kabat et al, supra.
• a “humanized” antibody refers to a chimeric antibody comprising amino acid residues from non-human HVRs and amino acid residues from human FRs.
• a humanized antibody will comprise substantially all of at least one, and typically two, variable domains, in which all or substantially all of the HVRs (e.g., CDRs) correspond to those of a non-human antibody, and all or substantially all of the FRs correspond to those of a human antibody.
• a humanized antibody optionally may comprise at least a portion of an antibody constant region derived from a human antibody.
• a "humanized form" of an antibody, e.g., a non- human antibody refers to an antibody that has undergone humanization.
• hypervariable region refers to each of the regions of an antibody variable domain comprising the amino acid residue stretches which are hypervariable in sequence ("complementarity determining regions” or “CDRs") and/or form structurally defined loops ("hypervariable loops"), and/or contain the antigen-contacting residues ("antigen contacts").
• CDRs complementarity determining regions
• hypervariable loops form structurally defined loops
• antigen contacts Generally, antibodies comprise six HVRs; three in the VH (HI, H2, H3), and three in the VL (LI, L2, L3).
• HVRs include
• HVR residues and other residues in the variable domain are numbered herein according to Kabat et al, supra.
• hinge region denotes the part of an antibody heavy chain polypeptide that joins in a wild-type antibody heavy chain the CHI domain and the CH2 domain, e. g. from about position 216 to about position 230 according to the EU number system of Kabat, or from about position 226 to about position 230 according to the EU number system of Kabat.
• the hinge regions of other IgG subclasses can be determined by aligning with the hinge-region cysteine residues of the IgG 1 subclass sequence.
• the hinge region is normally a dimeric molecule consisting of two polypeptides with identical amino acid sequence.
• the hinge region generally comprises about 25 amino acid residues and is flexible allowing the antigen binding regions to move independently.
• the hinge region can be subdivided into three domains: the upper, the middle, and the lower hinge domain (see e.g. Roux, et al, J. Immunol. 161 (1998) 4083).
• the hinge region has the amino acid sequence DKTHTCPX4CP, wherein X4 is either S or P. In one embodiment the hinge region has the amino acid sequence HTCPX4CP, wherein X4 is either S or P. In one embodiment the hinge region has the amino acid sequence CPX4CP, wherein X4 is either S or P.
• lower hinge region of an Fc-region denotes the stretch of amino acid residues immediately C-terminal to the hinge region, i.e. residues 233 to 239 of the Fc-region according to the EU numbering of Kabat.
• An "individual” or “subject” is a mammal. Mammals include, but are not limited to, domesticated animals (e.g. cows, sheep, cats, dogs, and horses), primates (e.g., humans and non-human primates such as monkeys), rabbits, and rodents (e.g., mice and rats). In certain embodiments, the individual or subject is a human.
• an “isolated” antibody is one which has been separated from a component of its natural environment.
• an antibody is purified to greater than 95% or 99% purity as determined by, for example, electrophoretic (e.g., SDS-
• nucleic acid refers to a nucleic acid molecule that has been separated from a component of its natural environment.
• An isolated nucleic acid includes a nucleic acid molecule contained in cells that ordinarily contain the nucleic acid molecule, but the nucleic acid molecule is present extrachromosomally or at a chromosomal location that is different from its natural chromosomal location.
• isolated nucleic acid encoding an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody refers to one or more nucleic acid molecules encoding antibody heavy and light chains (or fragments thereof), including such nucleic acid molecule(s) in a single vector or separate vectors, and such nucleic acid molecule(s) present at one or more locations in a host cell.
• monoclonal antibody refers to an antibody obtained from a population of substantially homogeneous antibodies, i.e., the individual antibodies comprising the population are identical and/or bind the same epitope, except for possible variant antibodies, e.g., containing naturally occurring mutations or arising during production of a monoclonal antibody preparation, such variants generally being present in minor amounts.
• polyclonal antibody preparations typically include different antibodies directed against different determinants (epitopes)
• each monoclonal antibody of a monoclonal antibody preparation is directed against a single determinant on an antigen.
• the modifier "monoclonal” indicates the character of the antibody as being obtained from a substantially homogeneous population of antibodies, and is not to be construed as requiring production of the antibody by any particular method.
• the monoclonal antibodies to be used in accordance with the present invention may be made by a variety of techniques, including but not limited to the hybridoma method, recombinant DNA methods, phage-display methods, and methods utilizing transgenic animals containing all or part of the human immunoglobulin loci, such methods and other exemplary methods for making monoclonal antibodies being described herein.
• “Native antibodies” refer to naturally occurring immunoglobulin molecules with varying structures.
• native IgG antibodies are heterotetrameric glycoproteins of about 150,000 daltons, composed of two identical light chains and two identical heavy chains that are disulfide-bonded. From N- to C-terminus, each heavy chain has a variable region (VH), also called a variable heavy domain or a heavy chain variable domain, followed by three constant domains (CHI, CH2, and CH3), whereby between the first and the second constant domain a hinge region is located.
• VH variable region
• CHI, CH2, and CH3 constant domains
• VL variable light domain
• CL constant light domain
• the light chain of an antibody may be assigned to one of two types, called kappa ( ⁇ ) and lambda ( ⁇ ), based on the amino acid sequence of its constant domain.
• Percent (%) amino acid sequence identity with respect to a reference polypeptide sequence is defined as the percentage of amino acid residues in a candidate sequence that are identical with the amino acid residues in the reference polypeptide sequence, after aligning the sequences and introducing gaps, if necessary, to achieve the maximum percent sequence identity, and not considering any conservative substitutions as part of the sequence identity.
• Alignment for purposes of determining percent amino acid sequence identity can be achieved in various ways that are within the skill in the art, for instance, using publicly available computer software such as BLAST, BLAST-2, ALIGN or Megalign (DNASTAR) software. Those skilled in the art can determine appropriate parameters for aligning sequences, including any algorithms needed to achieve maximal alignment over the full length of the sequences being compared. For purposes herein, however, % amino acid sequence identity values are generated using the sequence comparison computer program ALIGN-2.
• the ALIGN-2 sequence comparison computer program was authored by Genentech, Inc., and the source code has been filed with user documentation in the U.S. Copyright Office,
• the ALIGN-2 program is publicly available from Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, California, or may be compiled from the source code.
• the ALIGN-2 program should be compiled for use on a UNIX operating system, including digital UNIX V4.0D. All sequence comparison parameters are set by the ALIGN-2 program and do not vary.
• % amino acid sequence identity of a given amino acid sequence A to, with, or against a given amino acid sequence B is calculated as follows:
• variant (human) Fc-region denotes an amino acid sequence which differs from that of a "native” or “wild-type” (human) Fc-region amino acid sequence by virtue of at least one "amino acid alteration/mutation".
• the variant Fc-region has at least one amino acid mutation compared to a native Fc-region, e.g. from about one to about ten amino acid mutations, and in one embodiment from about one to about five amino acid mutations in a native Fc- region.
• the (variant) Fc-region has at least about 80 % homology with a wild-type Fc-region, and in one embodiment the variant Fc- region has least about 90 % homology, in one embodiment the variant Fc-region has at least about 95 % homology.
• the variant Fc-regions as reported herein are defined by the amino acid alterations that are contained.
• P329G denotes a variant Fc-region with the mutation of proline to glycine at amino acid position 329 relative to the parent (wild-type) Fc-region.
• the identity of the wild-type amino acid may be unspecified, in which case the aforementioned variant is referred to as 329G.
• the alteration can be an addition, deletion, or mutation.
• mutation denotes a change to naturally occurring amino acids as well as a change to non-naturally occurring amino acids (see e.g.
• wild-type Fc-region denotes an amino acid sequence identical to the amino acid sequence of an Fc-region found in nature.
• Wild-type human Fc-regions include a native human IgGl Fc-region (non-A and A allotypes), native human IgG2 Fc-region, native human IgG3 Fc-region, and native human IgG4 Fc-region as well as naturally occurring variants thereof.
• therapeutic antibody relates to any antibody preparation which is intended for use in a human being.
• therapeutic antibody will be a monoclonal antibody.
• monoclonal antibody will be obtained from a great ape or be a human monoclonal antibody.
• it will be a human monoclonal antibody.
• therapeutic monoclonal antibody will be a humanized monoclonal antibody.
• variable region refers to the domain of an antibody heavy or light chain that is involved in binding the antibody to antigen.
• the variable domains of the heavy chain and light chain (VH and VL, respectively) of a native antibody generally have similar structures, with each domain comprising four conserved framework regions (FRs) and three hypervariable regions (HVRs).
• FRs conserved framework regions
• HVRs hypervariable regions
• antibodies that bind a particular antigen may be isolated using a VH or VL domain from an antibody that binds the antigen to screen a library of complementary VL or VH domains, respectively (see, e.g., Portolano, S., et al, J. Immunol. 150 (1993) 880-887; Clackson, T., et al, Nature 352 (1991) 624-628).
• vector refers to a nucleic acid molecule capable of propagating another nucleic acid to which it is linked.
• the term includes the vector as a self-replicating nucleic acid structure as well as the vector incorporated into the genome of a host cell into which it has been introduced.
• Certain vectors are capable of directing the expression of nucleic acids to which they are operatively linked. Such vectors are referred to herein as "expression vectors”.
• the invention is based, in part, on the finding that antibodies specifically binding to a variant (human) Fc-region can be provided that do not substantially bind to the corresponding wild-type (human) Fc-region.
• antibodies that specifically bind to a human Fc-region with the mutations P329G or L234A, L235A, P329G or I253A, H310A, H435A are provided (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• Antibodies of the invention are useful, e.g., for the determination of the respective therapeutic antibody in a sample or for the determination of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) against a therapeutic antibody.
• drug tolerance can be improved by generic or universal assay formats that detect complexes of drug and ADA (anti-drug antibody).
• ADA anti-drug antibody
• the drug tolerance factor is the ratio between the amount of positively detectable positive control and the amount of drug present in the sample.
• a drug tolerance factor of 6 500 ng/mL positive control could be detected in the presence of up to 3 ⁇ g/mL drug
• a drug tolerance factor of 833 30 ng/ml control ADA were found positive in the presence of up to 25 ⁇ g/ml drug
• both assays show early ADA positivity at 120h for the bridging assay and 168h for the hsFcyRI-PG assay.
• the ADA signals at 168h for both assays are comparable and significant with approximately 0.5 OD.
• the corresponding drug level in the samples is very low (about 2 ng/ml).
• the drug level is much higher (about 2430 ng/mL). This influences the bridging assay, resulting in a major signal drop below the corresponding cut point.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay in contrast is not affected by the drug and the ADA signal even rises from 168h to C2 24h.
• Figure 7B shows the time course of patient B (Table above). After initial positivity at 96h, the bridging assay shows very low signals over the next 6 time points with 4 signals even below cut-point, resulting in negative classification of these samples. This may be due to rising drug levels for time-points C2 24h and C3 24 h, but even with drug levels below limit of quantification (C3 pre) samples show ADA signals below cut point in the bridging assay.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay also shows early positivity at C2 24h. But, this patient stays positive with significant signals during the whole time course. This indicates a better sensitivity for the hsFcyRI-PG assay compared to the bridging assay.
• Patient A (Table above; Figure 7A) also shows much higher signals for very late time points in the hsFcyRI-PG assay compared to the bridging assay.
• One patient was negative in the bridging assay over the whole time course and was detected positive in the hsFcyRI-PG assay for the last 2 time points.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay is more sensitive, especially for late ADA responses, even leading to a qualitative difference in ADA positivity in some study samples.
• the bridging assay has a much lower cut-point than the hsFcyRI-PG assay and for early ADA responses the bridging assay shows higher signals than the hsFcyRI-PG assay.
• the standard bridging assay showed earlier ADA positivity and/or higher signal intensities for early ADA responses than did the hsFcyRI-PG assay. This can be observed for example for patient C (Table above; Figure 7C). While the bridging assay shows positivity for all samples from 96h on, the hsFcyRI-PG assay only show positive ADA positivity for the last 2 time points.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay exclusively detects IgG but no IgM (Fridman, W.H., FASEB J. 5 (1991) 2684-2690), the first peak of ADA positivity observed by the bridging assay might very likely reflect an IgM response, because
• IgM is usually the first antibody class to appear in response to an initial antigen exposure (Stewart, J.J., et al, Autoimmunity 44 (2011) 294-303). This pattern of higher ADA responses in the bridging assay in early samples, indicating IgM responses could be observed in 3/8 patients.
• Patient D (Table above) was especially critical, since it showed an early ADA response for the bridging assay with a transient progression.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay showed only weak ADA positivity with a similar transient progression, indicating a mixed IgM, IgG response with a predominant proportion of IgM.
• IgM can be a problem for bridging ADA assays, resulting in false positive results (Stubenrauch, K., et al, Clin. Ther. 32 (2010) 1597-1609).
• the assay as reported herein and the standard bridging assay differ in the principles of ADA capturing and detection.
• AD As are both captured and detected by the differentially labelled drug molecules.
• oligomeric target can generate false positive results, and drug tolerance is usually low (Bautista, A.C., et al, Bioanal. 2 (2010) 721-731; Mire-Sluis, A.R., et al, J. Immunol. Meth. 289 (2004) 1-16 (2004); Weeraratne, D.K., et al, J. Immunol. Meth. 396 (2013) 44-55; Zhong, Z.D., et al, J. Immunol. Meth.
• the bridging assay is able to detect ADA of various Ig-subtypes including IgM and is applicable to all kinds of therapeutic antibodies (Mire-Sluis, A.R., et al, J. Immunol. Meth. 289 (2004) 1-16 (2004); Geng, D., et al, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 39 (2005) 364-375).
• complexes of ADA and therapeutic mAb are detected, independent of the binding region of the therapeutic antibody. This assay is not affected by oligomeric target, and drug tolerance is much better than in the standard bridging format.
• the assay does not recognize Ig-subtypes other than IgG due to the FcyRI-based antibody detection.
• the FcyRI-based assay is especially suited for therapeutic antibodies bearing the PG modification within the Fc-region.
• the hsFcyRI-PG assay represents a generic approach and can easily be applied.
• the therapeutic antibody (drug) in labelled form.
• labelling can be difficult.
• the assay as reported herein offers the possibility for robust and sensitive detection of ADA against Fc-region modified therapeutic antibodies.
• the assay as reported herein is a generic approach and is applicable for all therapeutic antibodies, e.g. those with a Pro329Gly substitution, with prevented FcyR binding.
• the hsFcyPJ-PG assay detects drug-ADA complexes and is based on two specific assay reagents, (i) a bi-labelled antibody against the Fc-region modification (e.g. the P329G modified therapeutic antibody) and (ii) dig-labelled hsFcyPJ that specifically detects human IgGl but no Fc-region modified Ig.
• the assay as reported herein is applicable for both clinical and preclinical testing.
• the Fc region of both human and cynomolgus monkey IgG have a high sequence- homology (Jacobsen, F.W., et al, J. Immunol. 186 (2011) 341-349), and hsFcyRI- based detection reagent has been demonstrated to recognize ADAs against therapeutic mAbs in cynomolgus monkey (Wessels, U., et al, Bioanalysis 8 (2016) 2135-2145). This fact eliminates the requirement of different assays in the analysis of animal and human samples.
• one aspect as reported herein is a method for the determination of the presence and/or amount of anti-drug antibodies in as sample (of a patient that had been administered the drug antibody) comprising the following steps: incubating the sample with an antibody specifically binding to an antibody lacking Fc effector function (by introduction of one or more substitution(s) within the Fc-region) to capture the antibody lacking Fc effector function from the sample (including free and ADA complexed antibody), detecting the captured antibody by incubating the captured antibody with human soluble FcyRI, and determining the presence and/or amount of anti-drug antibody in the sample.
• the method comprises the following steps: incubating the sample with an anti-PG antibody as reported herein (specifically binding to a drug antibody that has the P329G substitution in the Fc-region and is of human IgGl subclass) to capture the drug antibody from the sample (including free and ADA complexed drug antibody), detecting the captured drug antibody by incubating the captured drug antibody with human soluble FcyRI, and determining the presence and/or amount of anti-drug antibody in the sample by determining the presence and/or amount of bound human soluble FcyRI.
• the anti-PG antibody is immobilized to a solid phase.
• the anti-PG antibody comprises (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 22; (d) a HVR-L1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 32; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 34; and (f) a HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 35.
• the antibodies as reported herein have the following sequences:
• the invention provides isolated antibodies that specifically bind to a variant (human) Fc-region.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody as reported herein (anti-AAA antibody)
• does not (specifically) bind to denotes that in an assay in which the binding is determined the results obtained is not significantly different from the result obtained with a sample not comprising the antibody in question, i.e. a blank sample or a buffer sample.
• the variant (human) Fc-region is an Fc-region of the human IgGl or IgG4 subclass with the mutations 1253 A, H310A and H435A (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• the invention provides an anti-Fc-region antibody that specifically binds to an Fc-region comprising at positions 253, 310 and 435 (numbering according to Kabat EU index) each the amino acid residue alanine comprising at least one, two, three, four, five, or six HVRs selected from (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 09 or 10; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12, 13 or 14; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17 or 18; (d) a HVR-L1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23 or 24; (e) aHVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 26; and (f) a HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28, 29 or 30.
• HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 09 or 10
• an antibody of the invention comprises (a) a VH domain comprising (i) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 09 or 10, (ii) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12 or 13 or 14, and (iii) a HVR-H3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 16, 17 or 18; and (b) a VL domain comprising (i) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23 or 24, (ii) HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 26, and (c) HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28, 29 or 30.
• the invention provides an antibody comprising (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 09; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 16; (d) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 26; and (f) HVR-L3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 28.
• the invention provides an antibody comprising (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 13; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 17; (d) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 24; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of
• HVR-L3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 29.
• the invention provides an antibody comprising (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 14; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 18; (d) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 24; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 26; and (f) HVR-L3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 30.
• Fc-region antibody as provided above are substituted at the following HVR positions:
• HVR-H2 (SEQ ID NO: 15): positions 3, 7, 8, 11, 12; - in HVR-H3 (SEQ ID NO: 19): positions 2, 10;
• HVR-L1 (SEQ ID NO: 25): positions 3, 14;
• substitutions are conservative substitutions, as provided herein.
• any one or more of the following amino acid residues may be present in any combination:
• HVR-H1 (SEQ ID NO: 11): at position 5 a neutral hydrophilic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of
• HVR-H2 at position 3 a neutral hydrophilic or acidic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, D and E, at position 7 a neutral hydrophilic or basic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, H, K, and R, at position 8 a neutral hydrophilic amino acid residue or a residue that influence chain orientation selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, G, and P, at position 11 a neutral hydrophilic or aromatic amino acid residue or a residue that influence chain orientation selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, G, P, W, Y, and F, at position 12 a neutral hydrophilic amino acid residue or a residue that influence chain orientation selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, G, and P; - in HVR-H3 (SEQ ID NO:
• HVR-L2 at position 4 an acidic or basic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of E, D, H, K, and R; and
• HVR-L3 at position 1 a hydrophobic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of M, A, V, L, and I, at position 6 a neutral hydrophilic or acidic amino acid residue selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, D, and E.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody is humanized.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises HVRs as in any of the above embodiments, and further comprises an acceptor human framework, e.g. a human immunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework.
• the humanized antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain amino acid sequenced derived from SEQ ID NO: 01 and a light chain variable domain amino acid sequence derived from SEQ ID NO: 02, and the humanized antibody has the same binding specificity as a chimeric or murine antibody that contains as heavy chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 01 and as light chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 02.
• the humanized antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain amino acid sequenced derived from SEQ ID NO: 03 and a light chain variable domain amino acid sequence derived from SEQ ID NO: 04, and the humanized antibody has the same binding specificity as a chimeric or murine antibody that contains as heavy chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 03 and as light chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of
• the humanized antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain amino acid sequenced derived from SEQ ID NO: 07 and a light chain variable domain amino acid sequence derived from SEQ ID NO: 08, and the humanized antibody has the same binding specificity as a chimeric or murine antibody that contains as heavy chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of
• SEQ ID NO: 07 and as light chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 08.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain (VH) sequence having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 100% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of any one of SEQ ID NO: 01, 03 and 07.
• VH heavy chain variable domain
• a VH sequence having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity contains substitutions (e.g., conservative substitutions), insertions, or deletions relative to the reference sequence, but an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising that sequence retains the ability to bind to the variant (human) Fc- region.
• the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises the VH sequence as in any one of SEQ ID NO: 01, 03 and 07, including post-translational modifications of that sequence.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising a light chain variable domain (VL) having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 100% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of any one of SEQ ID NO: 02, 04 or 08.
• VL light chain variable domain
• a VL sequence having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%o, 97%), 98%o, or 99% identity contains substitutions (e.g., conservative substitutions), insertions, or deletions relative to the reference sequence, but an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising that sequence retains the ability to bind to the variant (human) Fc-region.
• the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises the VL sequence of SEQ ID NO: 02, 04 or 08, including post-translational modifications of that sequence.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody is provided, wherein the antibody comprises a VH as in any of the embodiments provided above, and a VL as in any of the embodiments provided above.
• the antibody comprises (i) the VH and VL sequences in SEQ ID NO: 01 and SEQ ID NO: 02, or (ii) the VH and VL sequences in SEQ ID NO: 03 and SEQ ID NO: 04, respectively, or (iii) the VH and VL sequences in SEQ ID NO: 07 and SEQ ID NO: 08, including post-translational modifications of those sequences.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody as reported herein anti-PG antibody
• the immunization performed for the generation of the anti-PG antibody was performed with human IgGl bearing the P329G, L234A and L235A Fc-region substitutions, it was expected to obtain an antibody specifically binding to these amino acid residues.
• the antibody obtained specifically binds to human IgGl and Fc-region fragments only having the P239G mutation independently of the presence or absence of the L234A and L235A mutation, whereas human wt-lgGl and human IgGl with the mutations L234A and L235A were not bound.
• the anti-PG antibody as reported herein specific for the single P329G-substitution in the Fc-region of human IgGl .
• the variant (human) Fc-region is an Fc-region of the human IgGl or IgG4 subclass with the mutation P329G (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• the invention provides an anti-Fc-region antibody that specifically binds to an Fc-region comprising at position 329 the amino acid residue glycine (and optionally at positions 234 and 235 the amino acid residue alanine) (numbering according to Kabat EU index) comprising at least one, two, three, four, five, or six HVRs selected from (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 22; (d) a HVR-L1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 32; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 34; and (f) a HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 35.
• an antibody of the invention comprises (a) a VH domain comprising (i) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20, (ii) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21, and (iii) a
• HVR-H3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 22; and (b) a VL domain comprising (i) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 32, (ii) HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 34, and (c) HVR-L3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 35.
• the invention provides an antibody comprising (a) a HVR-H1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20; (b) a HVR-H2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21; (c) a HVR-H3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 22; (d) a HVR-Ll comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 32; (e) a HVR-L2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 34; and (f) HVR-L3 comprising an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 35.
• any one or more amino acids of an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody as provided above are substituted at the following HVR positions:
• substitutions are conservative substitutions, as provided herein.
• any one or more of the following amino acid residues may be present in any combination: - in HVR-Ll (SEQ ID NO: 33): at position 9 a neutral hydrophilic amino acid residue or a residue that influence chain orientation selected from the group of amino acid residues consisting of S, T, N, Q, G and P.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody is humanized.
• an anti- variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises HVRs as in any of the above embodiments, and further comprises an acceptor human framework, e.g. a human immunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework.
• the humanized antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain amino acid sequenced derived from SEQ ID NO: 05 and a light chain variable domain amino acid sequence derived from SEQ ID NO: 06, and the humanized antibody has the same binding specificity as a chimeric or murine antibody that contains as heavy chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 05 and as light chain variable domain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 06.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises a heavy chain variable domain (VH) sequence having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 100% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 05.
• a VH sequence having at least 90%>, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity contains substitutions (e.g., conservative substitutions), insertions, or deletions relative to the reference sequence, but an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising that sequence retains the ability to bind to the variant (human) Fc-region.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising that sequence retains the ability to bind to the variant (human) Fc-region.
• a total of 1 to 10 amino acids have been substituted, inserted and/or deleted in SEQ ID NO: 05.
• substitutions, insertions, or deletions occur in regions outside the HVRs (i.e., in the FRs).
• the anti- variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises the VH sequence as in SEQ ID NO: 05, including post-translational modifications of that sequence.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising a light chain variable domain (VL) having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 100% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 06.
• VL light chain variable domain
• a VL sequence having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity contains substitutions (e.g., conservative substitutions), insertions, or deletions relative to the reference sequence, but an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising that sequence retains the ability to bind to the variant (human)
• the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises the VL sequence of SEQ ID NO: 06, including post-translational modifications of that sequence.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprising a VH as in any of the embodiments provided above, and a VL as in any of the embodiments provided above.
• the antibody comprises the VH and VL sequences in SEQ ID NO: 05 and SEQ ID NO: 06, including post-translational modifications of those sequences.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody is a monoclonal antibody, including a chimeric, humanized or human antibody.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody is a monoclonal antibody, including a chimeric, humanized or human antibody.
• (human) Fc-region antibody is an antibody fragment, e.g., an Fv, Fab, Fab', scFv, diabody, or F(ab') 2 fragment.
• the antibody is a full length antibody, e.g., an intact antibody of the human IgGl subclass or other antibody class or isotype as defined herein.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody according to any of the above embodiments may incorporate any of the features, singly or in combination, as described in Sections 1-4 below:
• an antibody provided herein is an antibody fragment.
• Antibody fragments include, but are not limited to, Fab, Fab', Fab'-SH, F(ab') 2 , Fv, and scFv fragments, and other fragments described below.
• Fab fragment-specific antibody fragment
• Fab' fragment-specific Fab
• Fab'-SH fragment-specific Fab
• F(ab') 2 fragment-specific Fab
• Fv fragment antigen Vpent antibody fragment
• scFv fragments see, e.g., Plueckthun, A., In; The Pharmacology of Monoclonal Antibodies, Vol. 113, Rosenburg and Moore (eds.), Springer- Verlag, New York (1994), pp.
• Diabodies are antibody fragments with two antigen-binding sites that may be bivalent or bispecific. See, for example, EP 0 404 097; WO 1993/01161; Hudson, P.J. et al, Nat. Med. 9 (2003) 129-134; and Holliger, P. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90 (1993) 6444-6448. Triabodies and tetrabodies are also described in Hudson, P.J., et al, Nat. Med. 9 (20039 129-134).
• Single-domain antibodies are antibody fragments comprising all or a portion of the heavy chain variable domain or all or a portion of the light chain variable domain of an antibody.
• a single-domain antibody is a human single-domain antibody (Domantis, Inc., Waltham, MA; see, e.g., US 6,248,516).
• Antibody fragments can be made by various techniques, including but not limited to proteolytic digestion of an intact antibody as well as production by recombinant host cells (e.g. E. coli or phage), as described herein.
• an antibody provided herein is a chimeric antibody.
• Certain chimeric antibodies are described, e.g., in US 4,816,567; and Morrison,
• a chimeric antibody comprises a non-human variable region (e.g., a variable region derived from a mouse, rat, hamster, rabbit, or non-human primate, such as a monkey) and a human constant region.
• a chimeric antibody is a "class switched" antibody in which the class or subclass has been changed from that of the parent antibody. Chimeric antibodies include antigen-binding fragments thereof.
• a chimeric antibody is a humanized antibody.
• a non-human antibody is humanized to reduce immunogenicity to humans, while retaining the specificity and affinity of the parental non-human antibody.
• a humanized antibody comprises one or more variable domains in which HVRs, e.g., CDRs, (or portions thereof) are derived from a non-human antibody, and FRs (or portions thereof) are derived from human antibody sequences.
• HVRs e.g., CDRs
• FRs or portions thereof
• a humanized antibody optionally will also comprise at least a portion of a human constant region.
• some FR residues in a humanized antibody are substituted with corresponding residues from a non-human antibody (e.g., the antibody from which the HVR residues are derived), e.g., to restore or improve antibody specificity or affinity.
• Human framework regions that may be used for humanization include but are not limited to: framework regions selected using the "best-fit” method (see, e.g., Sims, M.J. et al., J. Immunol. 151 (1993) 2296-2308; framework regions derived from the consensus sequence of human antibodies of a particular subgroup of light or heavy chain variable regions (see, e.g., Carter, P. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
• an antibody provided herein is a multispecific antibody, e.g. a bispecific antibody.
• Multispecific antibodies are monoclonal antibodies that have binding specificities for at least two different sites. In certain embodiments, one of the binding specificities is for the variant (human) Fc-region and the other is for any other antigen.
• bispecific antibodies may bind to two different epitopes of the variant (human) Fc-region. Bispecific antibodies can be prepared as full length antibodies or antibody fragments. Techniques for making multispecific antibodies include, but are not limited to, recombinant co-expression of two immunoglobulin heavy chain-light chain pairs having different specificities (see Milstein, C.
• Multi-specific antibodies may also be made by engineering electrostatic steering effects for making antibody Fc-heterodimeric molecules (WO 2009/089004); cross-linking two or more antibodies or fragments (see, e.g., US 4,676,980, and Brennan, M.
• the antibody or fragment herein also includes a "Dual Acting Fab” or “DAF” comprising an antigen binding site that binds to the variant Fc-region as well as another, different antigen (see, US 2008/0069820, for example).
• the antibody or fragment herein also includes multispecific antibodies described in WO 2009/080251, WO 2009/080252, WO 2009/080253, WO 2009/080254, WO 2010/112193, WO 2010/115589, WO 2010/136172, WO 2010/145792, and WO 2010/145793.
• the CH3 domain of the first heavy chain and the CH3 domain of the second heavy chain are both engineered in a complementary manner so that the heavy chain comprising one engineered CH3 domain can no longer homodimerize with another heavy chain of the same structure (e.g. a CH3- engineered first heavy chain can no longer homodimerize with another CH3- engineered first heavy chain; and a CH3 -engineered second heavy chain can no longer homodimerize with another CH3 -engineered second heavy chain).
• the heavy chain comprising one engineered CH3 domain is forced to heterodimerize with another heavy chain comprising the CH3 domain, which is engineered in a complementary manner.
• the CH3 domain of the first heavy chain and the CH3 domain of the second heavy chain are engineered in a complementary manner by amino acid substitutions, such that the first heavy chain and the second heavy chain are forced to heterodimerize, whereas the first heavy chain and the second heavy chain can no longer homodimerize (e.g. for steric reasons).
• a multispecific antibody as reported herein, which comprises a "non-crossed Fab region" derived from a first antibody, which specifically binds to a first antigen, and a "crossed Fab region” derived from a second antibody, which specifically binds to a second antigen, in combination with the particular amino acid substitutions described above.
• the CH3 domains of the multispecific antibody as reported herein can be altered by the "knob-into-holes" technology which is described in detail with several examples in e.g.
• the multispecific antibody as reported herein comprises a T366W mutation in the CH3 domain of the "knobs chain” and T366S, L368A, Y407V mutations in the CH3 domain of the "hole-chain” (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• An additional interchain disulfide bridge between the CH3 domains can also be used (Merchant, A.M., et al., Nature Biotech. 16 (1998) 677-681) e.g. by introducing a Y349C mutation into the CH3 domain of the
• the multispecific antibody as reported herein comprises the Y349C and T366W mutations in one of the two CH3 domains and the E356C, T366S, L368A and Y407V mutations in the other of the two CH3 domains or the multispecific antibody as reported herein comprises the Y349C and T366W mutations in one of the two CH3 domains and the S354C, T366S, L368A and Y407V mutations in the other of the two CH3 domains (the additional Y349C mutation in one CH3 domain and the additional E356C or S354C mutation in the other CH3 domain forming a interchain disulfide bridge) (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• the multispecific antibody is a bispecific antibody or a tripeptide
• the antibody is a bivalent or trivalent antibody. In one embodiment the antibody is a bivalent antibody.
• the multispecific antibody has a constant domain structure of an IgG type antibody. In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgGl, or of human subclass IgGl with the mutations L234A and L235A. In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgG2. In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgG3.
• the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgG4 or, of human subclass IgG4 with the additional mutation S228P. In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgGl or human subclass IgG4. In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgGl with the mutations L234A and L235A (numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgGl with the mutations L234A, L235A and P329G (numbering according to Kabat EU index). In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgG4 with the mutations S228P and L235E (numbering according to Kabat EU index). In one further embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, the multispecific antibody is characterized in that said multispecific antibody is of human subclass IgG4 with the mutations S228P, L235E and P329G (numbering according to Kabat EU index). 4. Antibody Variants
• amino acid sequence variants of the antibodies provided herein are contemplated.
• Amino acid sequence variants of an antibody may be prepared by introducing appropriate modifications into the nucleotide sequence encoding the antibody, or by peptide synthesis. Such modifications include, for example, deletions from, and/or insertions into and/or substitutions of residues within the amino acid sequences of the antibody. Any combination of deletion, insertion, and substitution can be made to arrive at the final construct, provided that the final construct possesses the desired characteristics, e.g., antigen-binding. a) Substitution, Insertion, and Deletion Variants
• antibody variants having one or more amino acid substitutions are provided.
• Sites of interest for substitutional mutagenesis include the HVRs and FRs.
• Conservative substitutions are shown in Table 1 under the heading of "preferred substitutions”. More substantial changes are provided in Table 1 under the heading of "exemplary substitutions," and as further described below in reference to amino acid side chain classes.
• Amino acid substitutions may be introduced into an antibody of interest and the products screened for a desired activity, e.g., retained/improved antigen binding, decreased immunogenicity, or improved ADCC or CDC.
• Amino acids may be grouped according to common side-chain properties:
• Non-conservative substitutions will entail exchanging a member of one of these classes for another class.
• substitutional variant involves substituting one or more hypervariable region residues of a parent antibody (e.g. a humanized or human antibody).
• a parent antibody e.g. a humanized or human antibody
• the resulting variant(s) selected for further study will have modifications (e.g., improvements) in certain biological properties (e.g., increased affinity, reduced immunogenicity) relative to the parent antibody and/or will have substantially retained certain biological properties of the parent antibody.
• An exemplary substitutional variant is an affinity matured antibody, which may be conveniently generated, e.g., using phage display-based affinity maturation techniques such as those described herein. Briefly, one or more HVR residues are mutated and the variant antibodies displayed on phage and screened for a particular biological activity (e.g. binding affinity).
• Alterations may be made in HVRs, e.g., to improve antibody affinity. Such alterations may be made in HVR "hotspots," i.e., residues encoded by codons that undergo mutation at high frequency during the somatic maturation process (see, e.g., Chowdhury, P.S., Methods Mol. Biol. 207 (2008) 179-196), and/or residues that contact antigen, with the resulting variant VH or VL being tested for binding affinity.
• Affinity maturation by constructing and reselecting from secondary libraries has been described, e.g., in Hoogenboom, H.R. et al. in Methods in Molecular Biology 178 (2002) 1-37.
• variable genes chosen for maturation are introduced into the variable genes chosen for maturation by any of a variety of methods (e.g., error-prone PCR, chain shuffling, or oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis).
• a secondary library is then created. The library is then screened to identify any antibody variants with the desired affinity.
• Another method to introduce diversity involves HVR-directed approaches, in which several HVR residues (e.g., 4-6 residues at a time) are randomized. HVR residues involved in antigen binding may be specifically identified, e.g., using alanine scanning mutagenesis or modeling. CDR-H3 and CDR-L3 in particular are often targeted.
• substitutions, insertions, or deletions may occur within one or more HVRs so long as such alterations do not substantially reduce the ability of the antibody to bind antigen.
• conservative alterations e.g., conservative substitutions as provided herein
• Such alterations may, for example, be outside of antigen contacting residues in the HVRs.
• each HVR either is unaltered, or contains no more than one, two or three amino acid substitutions.
• a useful method for identification of residues or regions of an antibody that may be targeted for mutagenesis is called "alanine scanning mutagenesis" as described by Cunningham, B.C. and Wells, J.A., Science 244 (1989) 1081-1085.
• a residue or group of target residues e.g., charged residues such as arg, asp, his, lys, and glu
• a neutral or negatively charged amino acid e.g., alanine or polyalanine
• Further substitutions may be introduced at the amino acid locations demonstrating functional sensitivity to the initial substitutions.
• a crystal structure of an antigen- antibody complex to identify contact points between the antibody and antigen. Such contact residues and neighboring residues may be targeted or eliminated as candidates for substitution.
• Variants may be screened to determine whether they contain the desired properties.
• Amino acid sequence insertions include amino- and/or carboxyl-terminal fusions ranging in length from one residue to polypeptides containing a hundred or more residues, as well as intrasequence insertions of single or multiple amino acid residues.
• terminal insertions include an antibody with an N-terminal methionyl residue.
• Other insertional variants of the antibody molecule include the fusion to the N- or C-terminus of the antibody to an enzyme (e.g. for ADEPT) or a polypeptide which increases the serum half-life of the antibody.
• ADEPT enzyme
• an antibody provided herein is altered to increase or decrease the extent to which the antibody is glycosylated.
• Addition or deletion of glycosylation sites to an antibody may be conveniently accomplished by altering the amino acid sequence such that one or more glycosylation sites is created or removed.
• the carbohydrate attached thereto may be altered.
• Native antibodies produced by mammalian cells typically comprise a branched, biantennary oligosaccharide that is generally attached by an N-linkage to Asn297 of the CH2 domain of the Fc-region. See, e.g., Wright, A. and Morrison, S.L., TIBTECH 15 (1997) 26-32.
• the oligosaccharide may include various carbohydrates, e.g., mannose, N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc), galactose, and sialic acid, as well as a fucose attached to a GlcNAc in the "stem" of the biantennary oligosaccharide structure.
• modifications of the oligosaccharide in an antibody of the invention may be made in order to create antibody variants with certain improved properties.
• antibody variants having a carbohydrate structure that lacks fucose attached (directly or indirectly) to an Fc-region.
• the amount of fucose in such antibody may be from 1% to 80%, from 1% to 65%, from 5%> to 65%o or from 20%> to 40%>.
• the amount of fucose is determined by calculating the average amount of fucose within the sugar chain at Asn297, relative to the sum of all glycostructures attached to Asn 297 (e. g. complex, hybrid and high mannose structures) as measured by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, as described in WO 2008/077546, for example.
• Asn297 refers to the asparagine residue located at about position 297 in the Fc-region (EU numbering of Fc-region residues); however, Asn297 may also be located about ⁇ 3 amino acids upstream or downstream of position 297, i.e., between positions 294 and 300, due to minor sequence variations in antibodies.
• Such fucosylation variants may have improved ADCC function. See, e.g., US 2003/0157108; US 2004/0093621.
• Examples of publications related to "defucosylated” or "fucose-deficient" antibody variants include: US 2003/0157108; WO 2000/61739; WO 2001/29246; US 2003/0115614;
• Antibodies variants are further provided with bisected oligosaccharides, e.g., in which a biantennary oligosaccharide attached to the Fc-region of the antibody is bisected by GlcNAc. Such antibody variants may have reduced fucosylation and/or improved ADCC function. Examples of such antibody variants are described, e.g., in WO 2003/011878; US 6,602,684; and US 2005/0123546. Antibody variants with at least one galactose residue in the oligosaccharide attached to the Fc-region are also provided. Such antibody variants may have improved CDC function. Such antibody variants are described, e.g., in WO 1997/30087; WO 1998/58964; and WO 1999/22764. c) Fc-region variants
• one or more amino acid modifications may be introduced into the Fc-region of an antibody provided herein, thereby generating an Fc-region variant.
• the Fc-region variant may comprise a human Fc-region sequence ⁇ e.g., a human IgGl, IgG2, IgG3 or IgG4 Fc-region) comprising an amino acid modification (e.g. a substitution) at one or more amino acid positions.
• the invention contemplates an antibody variant that possesses some but not all effector functions, which make it a desirable candidate for applications in which the half-life of the antibody in vivo is important yet certain effector functions (such as complement and ADCC) are unnecessary or deleterious.
• In vitro and/or in vivo cytotoxicity assays can be conducted to confirm the reduction/depletion of CDC and/or ADCC activities.
• Fc receptor (FcR) binding assays can be conducted to ensure that the antibody lacks FcyR binding (hence likely lacking ADCC activity), but retains FcRn binding ability.
• NK cells express Fc(RIII only, whereas monocytes express FcyRI, FcyRII and FcyRIII.
• FcR expression on hematopoietic cells is summarized in Table 3 on page 464 of Ravetch, J.V. and Kinet, J.P., Annu. Rev. Immunol. 9 (1991) 457-492.
• Non-limiting examples of in vitro assays to assess ADCC activity of a molecule of interest is described in US 5,500,362 (see, e.g. Hellstrom, I. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83 (1986) 7059-7063; and Hellstrom, I. et al, Proc.
• non-radioactive assays methods may be employed (see, for example, ACTITM non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay for flow cytometry (CellTechnology, Inc. Mountain View, CA; and CytoTox 96 ® non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay (Promega, Madison, WI).
• Useful effector cells for such assays include peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and Natural Killer (NK) cells.
• PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells
• NK Natural Killer
• ADCC activity of the molecule of interest may be assessed in vivo, e.g., in an animal model such as that disclosed in Clynes, R. et al, Proc. Natl.
• Clq binding assays may also be carried out to confirm that the antibody is unable to bind Clq and hence lacks CDC activity (see, e.g., Clq and C3c binding ELISA in WO 2006/029879 and WO 2005/100402).
• a CDC assay may be performed (see, for example, Gazzano-Santoro, H. et al, J. Immunol. Methods 202 (1996) 163-171; Cragg, M.S. et al, Blood 101 (2003) 1045-1052; and Cragg, M.S. and M.J. Glennie, Blood 103 (2004) 2738-2743).
• FcRn binding and in vivo clearance/half-life determinations can also be performed using methods known in the art (see, e.g., Petkova, S.B. et al, Int. Immunol. 18 (2006: 1759-1769).
• Antibodies with reduced effector function include those with substitution of one or more of Fc-region residues 238, 265, 269, 270, 297, 327 and 329 (US 6,737,056).
• Such Fc mutants include Fc mutants with substitutions at two or more of amino acid positions 265, 269, 270, 297 and 327, including the so-called "DANA" Fc mutant with substitution of residues 265 and 297 to alanine (US 7,332,581).
• an antibody variant comprises an Fc-region with one or more amino acid substitutions which improve ADCC, e.g., substitutions at positions 298, 333, and/or 334 of the Fc-region (EU numbering of residues).
• alterations are made in the Fc-region that result in altered (i.e., either improved or diminished) Clq binding and/or Complement Dependent Cytotoxicity (CDC), e.g., as described in US 6,194,551, WO 99/51642, and Idusogie, E.E. et al, J. Immunol. 164 (2000) 4178-4184.
• CDC Complement Dependent Cytotoxicity
• Antibodies with increased half-lives and improved binding to the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), which is responsible for the transfer of maternal IgGs to the fetus are described in US 2005/0014934.
• Those antibodies comprise an Fc-region with one or more substitutions therein which improve binding of the Fc-region to FcRn.
• Such Fc variants include those with substitutions at one or more of Fc-region residues: 238, 256, 265, 272, 286, 303, 305, 307, 311, 312, 317, 340, 356, 360, 362, 376, 378, 380, 382, 413, 424 or 434, e.g., substitution of Fc-region residue 434 (US 7,371,826). See also Duncan, A.R. and Winter, G., Nature 322 (1988) 738-740; US 5,648,260;
• the antibody comprises (all positions according to EU index of Kabat) with the proviso that the antibody does not/cannot bind to itself i) a homodimeric Fc-region of the human IgGl subclass optionally with the mutations P329G, L234A and L235A, or
• a homodimeric Fc-region of the human IgG4 subclass optionally with the mutations P329G, S228P and L235E, or a homodimeric Fc-region of the human IgGl subclass optionally with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A, or optionally with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, H310A, H433A, and Y436A, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutation T366W, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A and Y407V, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and Y349C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V, and S354C, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and S354C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V and Y349C,
• Fc-region polypeptides comprise the mutations P329G, L234A and L235A and
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutation T366W, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A and Y407V, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and Y349C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V, and S354C, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and S354C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V and Y349C,
• Fc-region polypeptides comprise the mutations P329G, S228P and L235E and
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutation T366W, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A and Y407V, or
• one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and Y349C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V, and S354C, or c) one Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366W and S354C, and the other Fc-region polypeptide comprises the mutations T366S, L368A, Y407V and Y349C, or
• an antibody comprising a heavy chain including a CH3 domain as specified herein comprises an additional C-terminal glycine-lysine dipeptide (G446 and K447, numbering according to Kabat EU index). In one embodiment of all aspects as reported herein, an antibody comprising a heavy chain including a CH3 domain, as specified herein, comprises an additional C-terminal glycine residue (G446, numbering according to Kabat EU index).
• the antibody as reported herein is in one embodiment characterized by being of human subclass IgGl with mutations PVA236, L234A/L235A, and/or GLPSS331 (numbering according to EU index of Kabat), or of subclass IgG4.
• the antibody is characterized by being of any IgG class, in one embodiment being IgGl or IgG4, containing at least one mutation in E233, L234, L235, G236, D270, N297, E318, K320, K322, A327, A330, P331 and/or P329 (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• the antibody of IgG4 subclass contains the mutation S228P, or the mutations S228P and L235E (Angal, S., et al, Mol. Immunol. 30 (1993) 105-108) (numbering according to EU index of Kabat).
• the C-terminus of the heavy chain of the antibody as reported herein can be a complete C-terminus ending with the amino acid residues PGK.
• the C-terminus of the heavy chain can be a shortened C-terminus in which one or two of the C- terminal amino acid residues have been removed.
• the C-terminus of the heavy chain is a shortened C-terminus ending PG. d) Cysteine engineered antibody variants
• cysteine engineered antibodies e.g., "thioMAbs”
• one or more residues of an antibody are substituted with cysteine residues.
• the substituted residues occur at accessible sites of the antibody.
• reactive thiol groups are thereby positioned at accessible sites of the antibody and may be used to conjugate the antibody to other moieties, such as drug moieties or linker-drug moieties, to create an immunoconjugate, as described further herein.
• any one or more of the following residues may be substituted with cysteine: V205 (Kabat numbering) of the light chain; Al 18 (EU numbering) of the heavy chain; and S400 (EU numbering) of the heavy chain
• Cysteine engineered antibodies may be generated as described, e.g., in US 7,521,541.
• an antibody provided herein may be further modified to contain additional non-proteinaceous moieties that are known in the art and readily available.
• the moieties suitable for derivatization of the antibody include but are not limited to water soluble polymers.
• water soluble polymers include, but are not limited to, polyethylene glycol (PEG), copolymers of ethylene glycol/propylene glycol, carboxymethylcellulose, dextran, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, poly-1, 3-dioxolane, poly-l,3,6-trioxane, ethylene/maleic anhydride copolymer, polyaminoacids (either homopolymers or random copolymers), and dextran or poly(n-vinyl pyrrolidone)polyethylene glycol, propropylene glycol homopolymers, prolypropylene oxide/ethylene oxide copolymers, polyoxyethylated polyols (e.g., g
• Polyethylene glycol propionaldehyde may have advantages in manufacturing due to its stability in water.
• the polymer may be of any molecular weight, and may be branched or unbranched.
• the number of polymers attached to the antibody may vary, and if more than one polymer is attached, they can be the same or different molecules. In general, the number and/or type of polymers used for derivatization can be determined based on considerations including, but not limited to, the particular properties or functions of the antibody to be improved, whether the antibody derivative will be used in a therapy under defined conditions, etc.
• conjugates of an antibody and non-proteinaceous moiety that may be selectively heated by exposure to radiation are provided.
• the non-proteinaceous moiety is a carbon nanotube (Kam, N.W. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102 (2005) 11600-11605).
• the radiation may be of any wavelength, and includes, but is not limited to, wavelengths that do not harm ordinary cells, but which heat the non-proteinaceous moiety to a temperature at which cells proximal to the antibody-non-proteinaceous moiety are killed.
• Antibodies may be produced using recombinant methods and compositions, e.g., as described in US 4,816,567.
• isolated nucleic acid encoding an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody described herein is provided.
• Such nucleic acid may encode an amino acid sequence comprising the VL and/or an amino acid sequence comprising the VH of the antibody (e.g., the light and/or heavy chains of the antibody).
• one or more vectors e.g., expression vectors
• a host cell comprising such nucleic acid is provided.
• a host cell comprises (e.g., has been transformed with): (1) a vector comprising a nucleic acid that encodes an amino acid sequence comprising the VL of the antibody and an amino acid sequence comprising the VH of the antibody, or (2) a first vector comprising a nucleic acid that encodes an amino acid sequence comprising the VL of the antibody and a second vector comprising a nucleic acid that encodes an amino acid sequence comprising the VH of the antibody.
• the host cell is eukaryotic, e.g. a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell or lymphoid cell (e.g., Y0, NSO, Sp20 cell).
• a method of making an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody comprises culturing a host cell comprising a nucleic acid encoding the antibody, as provided above, under conditions suitable for expression of the antibody, and optionally recovering the antibody from the host cell (or host cell culture medium).
• nucleic acid encoding an antibody is isolated and inserted into one or more vectors for further cloning and/or expression in a host cell.
• nucleic acid may be readily isolated and sequenced using conventional procedures
• oligonucleotide probes that are capable of binding specifically to genes encoding the heavy and light chains of the antibody.
• Suitable host cells for cloning or expression of antibody-encoding vectors include prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells described herein.
• antibodies may be produced in bacteria, in particular when glycosylation and Fc effector function are not needed.
• For expression of antibody fragments and polypeptides in bacteria see, e.g., US 5,648,237, US 5,789,199, and US 5,840,523. (See also Charlton, K.A., In: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 248, Lo, B.K.C. (ed.), Humana Press, Totowa, NJ (2003), pp. 245-254, describing expression of antibody fragments in E. coli.)
• the antibody may be isolated from the bacterial cell paste in a soluble fraction and can be further purified.
• eukaryotic microbes such as filamentous fungi or yeast are suitable cloning or expression hosts for antibody-encoding vectors, including fungi and yeast strains whose glycosylation pathways have been "humanized,” resulting in the production of an antibody with a partially or fully human glycosylation pattern. See Gerngross, T.U., Nat. Biotech. 22 (2004) 1409-1414; and Li, H. et al, Nat. Biotech. 24 (2006) 210-215.
• Suitable host cells for the expression of glycosylated antibody are also derived from multicellular organisms (invertebrates and vertebrates). Examples of invertebrate cells include plant and insect cells. Numerous baculoviral strains have been identified which may be used in conjunction with insect cells, particularly for transfection of Spodoptera frugiperda cells.
• Plant cell cultures can also be utilized as hosts. See, e.g., US 5,959,177, US 6,040,498, US 6,420,548, US 7,125,978, and US 6,417,429 (describing
• PLANTIBODIESTM technology for producing antibodies in transgenic plants
• Vertebrate cells may also be used as hosts.
• mammalian cell lines that are adapted to grow in suspension may be useful.
• Other examples of useful mammalian host cell lines are monkey kidney CV1 line transformed by SV40 (COS-7); human embryonic kidney line (293 or 293 cells as described, e.g., in
• TM4 cells as described, e.g., in Mather, J.P., Biol. Reprod. 23 (1980) 243-252); monkey kidney cells (CV1); African green monkey kidney cells (VERO-76); human cervical carcinoma cells (HELA); canine kidney cells (MDCK; buffalo rat liver cells (BRL 3 A); human lung cells (W138); human liver cells (Hep G2); mouse mammary tumor (MMT 060562); TRI cells, as described, e.g., in Mather, J.P. et al, Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci.
• CHO Chinese hamster ovary
• DHFR CHO cells
• myeloma cell lines such as
• Anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibodies provided herein may be used in various assays known in the art.
• the antibodies as reported herein are especially useful if a therapeutic antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region or an anti-drug antibody against such a therapeutic antibody has to be detected, e.g. in a sample.
• the mutations 1253 A, H31 OA and H435A are an antibody comprising
• an antibody as reported herein in an (antigen bridging) immunoassay either as capture antibody or as tracer antibody for the determination of a therapeutic antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc- region) (in a sample).
• the respective other reagent required for detection or for capture can be any of the antigen of the therapeutic antibody, a second antibody that specifically binds to the therapeutic antibody or a moiety conjugated thereto but not interfering with the binding of the antibody used (i.e.
• both antibodies can bind to the therapeutic antibody simultaneously), an anti-idiotypic antibody for the therapeutic antibody, or a human Fcgamma receptor I or an Fc-region-binding fragment thereof, respectively, which has been derivatized, immobilized or labelled accordingly.
• This assay is applicable to any non-human serum if the antibody as reported herein is used as a tracer antibody. In one embodiment the use is for the determination in a serum sample of a non-human experimental animal.
• This assay is applicable to any serum (including human serum) if the antibody as reported herein is used as a capture antibody.
• Such an assay has a lower limit of quantification of below 100 pg/ml, e.g. of 40-80 pg/ml in 10 % cynomolgus serum (assay concentration).
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of one or more antibodies as reported herein in an antigen bridging immunoassay as capture antibody and as tracer antibody for the determination of a therapeutic antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region (in a sample).
• This assay is applicable to any serum (including human serum).
• two different antibodies as reported herein are used as capture antibody and as tracer antibody.
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein in an antigen bridging immunoassay as calibration standard.
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein in an immunoassay for the determination of an anti-drug antibody against a therapeutic antibody whereby the therapeutic antibody comprises the respective mutations in the Fc-region (in a sample).
• This assay is applicable to any serum (including human serum) if the antibody as reported herein is used as a capture antibody.
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for detecting a therapeutic antibody of human IgGl or IgG4 subclass comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region (in a sample) comprising the steps of
• the antibody as reported herein is used as a capture antibody.
• the capturing antibody is in one embodiment immobilized to a solid surface.
• This solid surface is in one embodiment (the wall or the bottom of) a well of a multi- well plate.
• the method comprises the following steps: a) incubating the sample with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof immobilized on a solid surface to form an immobilized complex comprising the therapeutic antibody,
• the antibody as reported herein is used as a tracer antibody.
• a suitable capture reagent is in one embodiment immobilized to a solid surface. This solid surface is in one embodiment (the wall or the bottom of) a well of a multi-well plate.
• the method comprises the following steps:
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for determining a therapeutic antibody of human IgGl or IgG4 subclass comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region in a sample using an antigen bridging immunoassay comprising a capture antibody and a tracer antibody, characterized in that the capture antibody and the tracer antibody are both independently selected from antibodies as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof.
• the sample is obtained from an experimental animal selected from the members of the families of marmosets and tamarins, old world monkeys, dwarf and mouse lemurs, gibbons and lesser apes, true lemurs, as well as crossings thereof or from a human.
• the sample is obtained from a rhesus- monkey, or a marmoset monkey, or a baboon monkey, or a cynomolgus monkey, or a human.
• the experimental animal is a macaca or macaque monkey.
• the sample is obtained from a cynomolgus monkey or a rhesus-monkey or a human.
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein or an Fc- region binding fragment thereof which is specifically binding to a therapeutic antibody of human IgGl or IgG4 subclass comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region for determining the concentration of total, active, ADA-bound, or antigen-bound therapeutic antibody (in a sample).
• One aspect as reported herein is an antibody composition comprising a mixture of the antibodies as reported herein and/or Fc-region binding fragments thereof.
• the immunoassay is a sandwich immunoassay.
• the conjugation of the antibody to its conjugation partner is performed by chemically binding via N-terminal and/or ⁇ -amino groups (lysine), ⁇ -amino groups of different lysines, carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the antibody and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the antibody.
• the capture antibody is immobilized via a specific binding pair.
• the capture antibody is conjugated to biotin and immobilization is performed via immobilized avidin or streptavidin.
• the tracer antibody is conjugated to the detectable label via a specific binding pair.
• the tracer antibody is conjugated to digoxygenin and linking to the detectable label is performed via an antibody against digoxygenin.
• the therapeutic antibody is a human or a humanized antibody.
• the human or humanized antibody is a monoclonal antibody.
• the total therapeutic antibody is detected, in another embodiment the active therapeutic antibody is detected, and in a further embodiment the therapeutic antibody is detected which is bound to its antigen.
• One aspect as reported herein is a method of detecting a therapeutic antibody (in a sample) comprising the steps of:
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• step a) incubating a solid phase on which the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody has been immobilized with a sample comprising mammalian blood serum (so that a solid-phase- bound drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex is formed), b) incubating the solid phase (to which the drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex formed in step a) is bound) with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof conjugated to a detectable label, and
• step b) determining the formation of a solid-phase-bound complex in step b) by determining the presence of the detectable label and thereby determining the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc- receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in the sample.
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in a sample comprising the following steps in the following order:
• step b) determining the formation of a solid-phase bound complex in step b) by determining the presence of the detectable label and thereby determining the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc- receptor binding suppressed human.
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• step a) adding (excess) drug antibody to the sample (to transfer (any) anti-drug antibody present in the sample in a drug-antibody-anti-drug antibody complex), wherein the sample comprises mammalian blood serum, b) incubating a solid phase on which the antigen to which the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody specifically binds has been immobilized with the sample obtained in step a) (so that a solid-phase-bound antigen-drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex is formed),
• step b) incubating the solid phase (to which the antigen-drug antibody-antidrug antibody complex formed in step b) is bound) with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof conjugated to a detectable label, and
• step c) determining the formation of a solid-phase-bound complex in step c) by determining the presence of the detectable label and thereby determining the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc- receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in the sample.
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• step b) adding (excess) drug antibody to the sample (to transfer (any) anti-drug antibody present in the sample in a drug-antibody-anti-drug antibody complex), wherein the sample comprises mammalian blood serum, b) incubating a solid phase on which an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof has been immobilized with the sample obtained in step a) (so that a solid-phase-bound Fc-region antibody-drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex is formed), c) incubating the solid phase (to which the Fc-region antibody-drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex formed in step b) is bound) with the antigen of the drug antibody, whereby the antigen is conjugated to a detectable label, and
• step c) determining the formation of a solid-phase-bound complex in step c) by determining the presence of the detectable label and thereby determining the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc- receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in the sample.
• an anti-drug antibody immunoassay for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• step a) adding (excess) drug antibody to the sample (to transfer (any) anti-drug antibody present in the sample in a drug-antibody-anti-drug antibody complex), wherein the sample comprises mammalian blood serum, b) incubating a solid phase on which an anti-drug antibody against the drug antibody has been immobilized with the sample obtained in step a) (so that a solid-phase-bound anti-drug antibody-drug antibody-antidrug antibody complex is formed),
• step b) incubating the solid phase (to which the anti-drug antibody-drug antibody-anti-drug antibody complex formed in step b) is bound) with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof conjugated to a detectable label, and
• step c) determining the formation of a solid-phase-bound complex in step c) by determining the presence of the detectable label and thereby determining the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc- receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in the sample.
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for the determination of the presence of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising the following steps in the following order:
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein in an (antigen bridging) immunoassay either as capture antibody for the determination of a therapeutic antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) complexed with an anti-drug antibody (in a sample).
• the respective other reagent required for detection of the complex can be a human Fcgamma receptor I or an Fc-region- binding fragment thereof, respectively, which has been derivatized, immobilized or labelled accordingly.
• This assay is applicable to any human and non-human serum if an antibody as reported herein is used as a capture antibody. In one embodiment the use is for the determination in a serum sample of a non-human experimental animal.
• Such an assay has a lower limit of quantification of below 100 pg/ml, e.g. of 40-80 pg/ml in 10 % cynomolgus serum (assay concentration).
• One aspect as reported herein is the use of an antibody as reported herein or an Fc- region binding fragment thereof for the determination of the presence or amount of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising mammalian blood serum.
• an antibody as reported herein or an Fc- region binding fragment thereof for the determination of the presence or amount of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) comprising mammalian blood serum.
• the assay is for the determination of the presence and the amount of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody (i.e. an antibody comprising the respective mutations in the Fc-region) (in a sample) and comprises as final steps:
• determining the formation of a solid-phase-bound complex in the previous step by determining the presence of the detectable label and determining the amount of an anti-drug antibody against an Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody in the sample by correlating the amount of the determined label with the amount of the anti-drug antibody using a standard curve.
• the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the human IgGl or IgG4 subclass. In one embodiment of all aspects as reported herein the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the human IgGl subclass and has the mutations L234A, L235A and P329G in both Fc-region polypeptides, or the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the human IgG4 subclass and has the mutations S228P, L235E and P329G in both Fc-region polypeptides, or the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the human IgGl subclass and has the mutations 1253 A, H310A, H435A and P329G in both Fc-region polypeptides, or the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the human IgG4 subclass
• the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is a bispecific antibody, or a trispecific antibody, or a tetraspecific antibody, or a pentaspecific antibody, or a hexaspecific antibody. In one embodiment the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is a bispecific antibody.
• the mammalian blood serum is human blood serum or cynomolgus blood serum or mouse blood serum. In one embodiment of all aspects as reported herein the mammalian blood serum has been obtained from a mammal to which the Fc-receptor binding suppressed human or humanized drug antibody had been administered. In one embodiment the sample is obtained at least 2 days after the first administration of the antibody to the mammal.
• the anti-drug antibody against an effector function suppressed human or humanized drug antibody is of the IgG class.
• the presence and/or amount of the label is determined using an enzyme linked color reaction, surface plasmon resonance, electrochemiluminescense, or radioimmunoassay.
• the immunoassay and/or the method and/or the use is an in vitro immunoassay and/or an in vitro method and/or an in vitro use.
• the solid phase is conjugated to a first member of a binding pair and the compound to be immobilized on the solid phase is conjugated to the second member of a binding pair.
• Such a binding pair is in one embodiment selected from streptavidin or avidin/biotin, antibody/antigen (see, for example, Hermanson, G.T., et al, Bioconjugate Techniques, Academic Press (1996)), lectin/polysaccharide, steroid/steroid binding protein, hormone/hormone receptor, enzyme/substrate, IgG/Protein A and/or G, etc.
• the second binding partner is bound (immobilized) via a specific binding pair.
• a binding pair is in one embodiment selected from streptavidin or avidin/biotin, antibody/antigen (see, for example, Hermanson, G.T., et al, Bioconjugate Techniques, Academic Press (1996)), lectin/polysaccharide, steroid/steroid binding protein, hormone/hormone receptor, enzyme/substrate, IgG/Protein A and/or G, etc.
• the second binding partner is conjugated to biotin and immobilization is performed via immobilized avidin or streptavidin.
• the first member of a binding pair is streptavidin and the second member of a binding pair is biotin.
• the solid phase is conjugated to streptavidin and the compound to be immobilized on the solid phase is biotinylated.
• the solid phase is a streptavidin coated paramagnetic bead or a streptavidin coated sepharose bead or a streptavidin coated well of a multi-well- plate.
• the compound to be conjugated to the solid phase is a mixture comprising at least two compounds that differ in the site at which they are conjugated to biotin and thereby thereafter immobilized on the solid phase.
• the compound to be immobilized on the solid phase is conjugated to the second member of the binding pair by chemically binding via N- terminal and/or ⁇ -amino groups (lysine), ⁇ -amino groups of different lysins, carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the polypeptide and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the polypeptide.
• Such conjugation via different amino groups can be performed by acylation of a part of the ⁇ -amino groups with chemical protecting agents, e.g. by citraconylation, in a first step. In a second step conjugation is performed via the remaining amino groups.
• Suitable chemical protecting agents form bonds at unprotected side chain amines and are less stable than and different from those bonds at the N-terminus. Many such chemical protecting agents are known (see for example EP 0 651 761).
• the chemical protecting agents include cyclic dicarboxylic acid anhydrides like maleic or citraconylic acid anhydride.
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for the (immunological) determination of the amount of a multispecific binder (in a sample) comprising the step of: determining the amount of a complex formed between i) an anti-idiotypic antibody that specifically binds to a first binding specificity of the multispecific binder, and ii) the multispecific binder by incubating the complex with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof, and thereby determining the amount of the multispecific binder in the sample.
• the anti-idiotypic antibody that specifically binds to a first binding specificity of the multispecific binder is conjugated to a solid phase.
• the antibody as reported herein of the Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated to a detectable label.
• the sample comprises (human) serum or (human) plasma, and/or is a cell lysate, and/or comprises one or more antigens of the multispecific binder. In one embodiment the sample is (human) serum or (human) plasma.
• the multispecific binder is selected from an antibody, a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and a non-antibody polypeptide, a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and a soluble receptor, or a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and a peptidic binding molecule.
• the multispecific binder is an antibody.
• the antibody is a bispecific antibody, or a trispecific antibody, or a tetraspecific antibody, or a pentaspecific antibody, or a hexaspecific antibody.
• the antibody is a bispecific antibody.
• the binding specificity is a binding site or a pair of an antibody heavy chain variable domain and an antibody light chain variable domain.
• the anti-idiotypic antibody that specifically binds to a first binding specificity of the multispecific binder is biotinylated and the solid phase is streptavidin coated.
• the solid phase is a streptavidin coated paramagnetic bead or a streptavidin coated sepharose bead.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is digoxigenylated.
• the method comprises the step of determining the amount of a complex formed between i) an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof, ii) the multispecific binder, and iii) an anti-idiotypic antibody that specifically binds to a binding specificity of the multispecific binder and that comprises a detectable label, by determination the detectable label in the formed complex.
• the conjugation of an anti-idiotypic antibody to its conjugation partner is performed by chemically binding via N-terminal and/or ⁇ -amino groups (lysine), ⁇ -amino groups of different lysins, carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the drug antibody and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the drug antibody.
• ⁇ -amino groups lysine
• ⁇ -amino groups of different lysins carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the drug antibody and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the drug antibody.
• the anti-idiotypic antibody is a mixture comprising the anti- idiotypic antibody conjugated via at least two different amino groups to the solid phase.
• Such coupling via different amino groups can be performed by acylation of a part of the ⁇ -amino groups with chemical protecting agents, e.g. by citraconylation, in a first step.
• conjugation is performed via the remaining amino groups.
• citraconylation is removed and the antibody is conjugated to the solid phase via remaining free amino groups, i.e. the antibody obtained is conjugated to the solid phase via amino groups that have not been protected by citraconylation.
• Suitable chemical protecting agents form bonds at unprotected side chain amines and are less stable than and different from those bonds at the N-terminus. Many such chemical protecting agents are known (see for example EP 0 651 761).
• the chemical protecting agents include cyclic dicarboxylic acid anhydrides like maleic or citraconylic acid anhydride.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated (immobilized) via a specific binding pair.
• a binding pair is in one embodiment selected from streptavidin or avidin/biotin, antibody/antigen (see, for example, Hermanson, G.T., et al, Bioconjugate Techniques, Academic Press (1996), lectin/polysaccharide, steroid/steroid binding protein, hormone/hormone receptor, enzyme/substrate, IgG/Protein A and/or G, etc.
• the anti- idiotypic antibody is conjugated to biotin and immobilization is performed via immobilized avidin or streptavidin.
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the presence and/or the amount of an (first) antigen of a bispecific antibody (in a sample), whereby the antigen to be detected can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the bispecific antibody, and whereby the antigen is complexed to the bispecific antibody (antigen-bispecific antibody-complex), comprising the step of:
• the method is for the determination of the presence and/or the amount of an antigen of a bispecific antibody, which is complexed to the bispecific antibody.
• At least 95 % of the antigen is complexed by the bispecific antibody. In one embodiment at least 98 % of the antigen is complexed by the bispecific antibody.
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the amount of antibody-bound (first) antigen of a bispecific antibody (in a sample), whereby the antigen can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the bispecific antibody, comprising the steps of:
• One aspect as reported herein is a method for the in vitro determination of the presence and/or amount of a binding partner (antigen, target, analyte), which can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of a multispecific binder, wherein the fraction of binding partner bound to the multispecific binder present in a sample is depleted prior to the detection of the binding partner by incubating the sample with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof.
• a binding partner antigen, target, analyte
• the binding partner to be detected is non-complexed binding partner or free binding partner.
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the presence and/or the amount of a (first) binding partner of a multispecific binder, whereby the binding partner can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the multispecific binder, comprising the step of:
• the method comprises the step of:
• the amount of the (free first) binding partner in the multispecific binder-depleted sample By the incubation with an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof the multispecific binder is removed/depleted from the sample. Concomitantly also (first) binding partner-multispecific binder-complexes are removed from the sample.
• the multispecific binder is selected from an antibody, a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and non-antibody polypeptide, a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and a soluble receptor, or a fusion polypeptide comprising an antibody or antibody fragment and a peptidic binding molecule.
• the multispecific binder is an antibody.
• the antibody is a bispecific antibody, or a trispecific antibody, or a tetraspecific antibody, or a pentaspecific antibody, or a hexaspecific antibody.
• the antibody is a bispecific antibody.
• the binding specificity is a binding site or a pair of an antibody heavy chain variable domain and an antibody light chain variable domain.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated to a solid phase.
• the second binding partner is biotinylated and the solid phase is streptavidin coated.
• the solid phase is a streptavidin coated paramagnetic bead or a streptavidin coated sepharose bead.
• the binding partner is the free binding partner, i.e. binding partner that is not bound or complexed by the multispecific binder.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is a biotinylated second binding partner and is conjugated to a solid phase via streptavidin.
• the antibody as reported herein or the Fc-region binding fragment thereof is a mixture comprising at least two antibodies as reported herein and/or an Fc-region binding fragments thereof that differ in the site at which they are conjugated to the solid phase.
• the site is the amino acid position of the amino acid sequence of the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof.
• the first binding partner is a polypeptide.
• the second binding partner is a polypeptide.
• the conjugation is performed by chemically binding via N- terminal and/or ⁇ -amino groups (lysine), ⁇ -amino groups of different lysins, carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the polypeptide and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the polypeptide.
• lysine ⁇ -amino groups
• ⁇ -amino groups of different lysins carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the polypeptide and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the polypeptide.
• Coupling via different amino groups can be performed by acylation of a part of the ⁇ -amino groups with chemical protecting agents, e.g. by citraconylation, in a first step. In a second step conjugation is performed via the remaining amino groups.
• Suitable chemical protecting agents form bonds at unprotected side chain amines and are less stable than and different from those bonds at the N- terminus. Many such chemical protecting agents are known (see for example EP 0 651 761).
• the chemical protecting agents include cyclic dicarboxylic acid anhydrides like maleic or citraconylic acid anhydride.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated to the solid phase by passive adsorption.
• Passive adsorption is, e. g., described by Butler, J.E., in "Solid Phases in Immunoassay"
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated (immobilized) via a specific binding pair.
• a binding pair is in one embodiment selected from streptavidin or avidin/biotin, antibody/antigen (see, for example, Hermanson, G.T., et al, Bioconjugate Techniques, Academic Press (1996)), lectin/polysaccharide, steroid/steroid binding protein, hormone/hormone receptor, enzyme/substrate, IgG/Protein A and/or G, etc.
• the second binding partner is conjugated to biotin and immobilization is performed via immobilized avidin or streptavidin.
• the method comprises the following steps: - incubating a multispecific antibody-depleted sample with a capture antibody that specifically binds to the (first) antigen to form a capture antibody-(first) antigen complex,
• the multispecific antibody is a bispecific antibody that has a first binding specificity that specifically binds to a first antigen or first epitope on an antigen and that has a second binding specificity that specifically binds to a second antigen or to a second epitope on the antigen.
• first antigen and the second antigen are the same antigen and the first binding specificity binds to a first epitope on the antigen and the second binding specificity binds to a second epitope on the antigen whereby the second epitope is a non-overlapping epitope to the first epitope and the binding of the first binding specificity does not interfere with the binding of the second binding specificity.
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the presence and/or the amount of an (first) antigen of a multispecific antibody (in a sample), whereby the antigen to be detected can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the multispecific antibody, comprising the step of:
• the second antigen is a labeled second antigen.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is immobilized via a specific binding pair to a solid phase.
• the specific binding pair is biotin and streptavidin.
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the presence and/or the amount of an (first) antigen of a bispecific antibody (in a sample) complexed to the bispecific antibody (first antigen-bispecific antibody- complex), whereby the antigen to be detected can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the bispecific antibody, comprising the step of:
• One aspect as reported herein is an in vitro method for the determination of the presence and/or amount of an antigen of a multispecific antibody (in a sample), whereby the antigen to be detected can be specifically bound by a first binding specificity of the multispecific antibody, comprising the step of:
• the method comprises the steps of:
• the sample comprises multispecific antibody, free antigen and multispecific antibody-antigen complexes and the detection is of free antigen of the multispecific antibody.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated to a paramagnetic bead. In one embodiment the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is conjugated to a solid phase.
• the antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is biotinylated and the solid phase is streptavidin coated.
• the solid phase is a streptavidin coated paramagnetic bead or a streptavidin coated sepharose bead.
• the binding specificity is a binding site.
• the binding site is a pair of an antibody heavy chain variable domain and an antibody light chain variable domain.
• the anti-Fc-region antibody-multispecific antibody complex is a mixture of anti-Fc-region antibody-multispecific antibody complex and anti-Fc- region antibody-multispecific antibody-antigen complex.
• the determining of the amount of the antigen comprises the following steps: - incubating a multispecific antibody-depleted sample with a capture antibody that specifically binds to the antigen to form a capture antibody- antigen complex,
• the multispecific antibody is a bispecific antibody that has a first binding specificity that specifically binds to a first antigen or first epitope on an antigen and that has a second binding specificity that specifically binds to a second antigen or to a second epitope on the antigen.
• therapeutic antibody denotes an antibody which is tested or has been tested in clinical studies for approval as human therapeutic and which can be administered to an individual for the treatment of a disease.
• the therapeutic antibody is a monoclonal antibody.
• the therapeutic antibody is obtained from a great ape or an animal transformed with a human antibody locus, or is a human monoclonal antibody, or is a humanized monoclonal antibody.
• the therapeutic antibody is a human monoclonal antibody.
• the therapeutic antibody is a humanized monoclonal antibody.
• Therapeutic antibodies are being used widely for the treatment of various diseases such as oncological diseases (e.g. hematological and solid malignancies including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer), immunological diseases, central nervous diseases, vascular diseases, or infectious diseases.
• oncological diseases e.g. hematological and solid malignancies including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer
• immunological diseases e.g. hematological and solid malignancies including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer
• immunological diseases e.g. hematological and solid malignancies including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer
• immunological diseases e.g. hematological and solid malignancies including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and colore
• epitope denotes a protein determinant capable of specifically binding to an antibody.
• Epitopes usually consist of chemically active surface groupings of molecules such as amino acids or sugar side chains and usually epitopes have specific three dimensional structural characteristics, as well as specific charge characteristics. Conformational and non-conformational epitopes are distinguished in that the binding to the former but not the latter is lost in the presence of denaturing solvents.
• Polypeptides and monoclonal antibodies and their constant domains contain a number of reactive amino acid side chains for conjugating to a member of a binding pair, such as a polypeptide/protein, a polymer (e.g. PEG, cellulose or polystyrol), or an enzyme.
• Chemical reactive groups of amino acids are, for example, amino groups (lysins, alpha-amino groups), thiol groups (cystins, cysteines, and methionins), carboxylic acid groups (aspartic acids, glutamic acids), and sugar-alcoholic groups.
• Such methods are e.g. described by Aslam M., and Dent, A., in "Bioconjugation", MacMillan Ref. Ltd. 1999, pages 50-100.
• Isothiocyanates are amine-modification reagents and form thiourea bonds with proteins. They react with protein amines in aqueous solution (optimally at pH 9.0 to 9.5). Aldehydes react under mild aqueous conditions with aliphatic and aromatic amines, hydrazines, and hydrazides to form an imine intermediate (Schiff s base). A Schiff s base can be selectively reduced with mild or strong reducing agents (such as sodium borohydride or sodium cyanoborohydride) to derive a stable alkyl amine bond. Other reagents that have been used to modify amines are acid anhydrides.
• diethylenetriaminepentaacetic anhydride is a bifunctional chelating agent that contains two amine-reactive anhydride groups. It can react with N-terminal and ⁇ -amine groups of amino acids to form amide linkages. The anhydride rings open to create multivalent, metal-chelating arms able to bind tightly to metals in a coordination complex.
• Cysteine contains a free thiol group, which is more nucleophilic than amines and is generally the most reactive functional group in a protein.
• Thiols are generally reactive at neutral pH, and therefore can be coupled to other molecules selectively in the presence of amines. Since free sulfhydryl groups are relatively reactive, proteins with these groups often exist with them in their oxidized form as disulfide groups or disulfide bonds. In such proteins, reduction of the disulfide bonds with a reagent such as dithiothreitol (DTT) is required to generate the reactive free thiol.
• DTT dithiothreitol
• Thiol-reactive reagents are those that will couple to thiol groups on polypeptides, forming thioether-coupled products. These reagents react rapidly at slight acidic to neutral pH and therefore can be reacted selectively in the presence of amine groups.
• the literature reports the use of several thiolating crosslinking reagents such as Traut's reagent (2-iminothiolane), succinimidyl
• acetylthio acetate
• SATA acetylthio
• Sulfo-LC-SPDP sulfosuccinimidyl 6-[3-(2-pyridyldithio) propionamido] hexanoate
• Haloacetyl derivatives e.g. iodoacetamides
• thioether bonds form thioether bonds and are also reagents for thiol modification.
• Further useful reagents are maleimides.
• the reaction of maleimides with thiol-reactive reagents is essentially the same as with iodoacetamides. Maleimides react rapidly at slight acidic to neutral pH.
• carboxylic acids Another common reactive group in polypeptides and antibodies are carboxylic acids.
• Polypeptides and antibodies contain carboxylic acid groups at the C-terminal position and within the side chains of aspartic acid and glutamic acid.
• the relatively low reactivity of carboxylic acids in water usually makes it difficult to use these groups to selectively modify polypeptides and antibodies.
• the carboxylic acid group is usually converted to a reactive ester by the use of a water-soluble carbodiimide and reacted with a nucleophilic reagent such as an amine, hydrazide, or hydrazine.
• the amine-containing reagent should be weakly basic in order to react selectively with the activated carboxylic acid in the presence of the more highly basic ⁇ -amines of lysine to form a stable amide bond. Protein crosslinking can occur when the pH is raised above 8.0.
• Sodium periodate can be used to oxidize the alcohol part of a sugar within a carbohydrate moiety attached to an antibody to an aldehyde.
• Each aldehyde group can be reacted with an amine, hydrazide, or hydrazine as described for carboxylic acids. Since the carbohydrate moiety is predominantly found on the crystallizable fragment (Fc) region of an antibody, conjugation can be achieved through site- directed modification of the carbohydrate away from the antigen-binding site.
• a Schiffs base intermediate is formed, which can be reduced to an alkyl amine through the reduction of the intermediate with sodium cyanoborohydride (mild and selective) or sodium borohydride (strong) water-soluble reducing agents.
• sample includes, but is not limited to, any quantity of a substance from a living thing or formerly living thing.
• living things include, but are not limited to, humans, mice, monkeys, rats, rabbits, and other animals.
• the sample is obtained from a monkey, especially a cynomolgus monkey, or a rabbit, or a mouse, or rat, or a human.
• substances include, but are not limited to, in one embodiment whole blood or serum from an individual, which are the most widely used sources of sample in clinical routine.
• solid phase denotes a non-fluid substance, and includes particles
• a solid phase component is distinguished from inert solid surfaces in that a "solid phase" contains at least one moiety on its surface, which is intended to interact with a substance in a sample.
• a solid phase may be a stationary component, such as a tube, strip, cuvette or microtiter plate, or may be non- stationary components, such as beads and microparticles.
• a variety of microparticles that allow either non-covalent or covalent attachment of proteins and other substances may be used.
• Such particles include polymer particles such as polystyrene and poly (methylmethacrylate); gold particles such as gold nanoparticles and gold colloids; and ceramic particles such as silica, glass, and metal oxide particles. See for example Martin, C.R., et al., Analytical Chemistry- News & Features, 70 (1998) 322A-327A, or Butler, J.E., Methods 22 (2000) 4-23.
• the detectable label is selected in one embodiment.
• the detectable label can also be a photoactivatable crosslinking group, e.g. an azido or an azirine group.
• Metal chelates which can be detected by electrochemiluminescense are also in one embodiment signal-emitting groups, with particular preference being given to ruthenium chelates, e.g. a ruthenium (bispyridyl) 3 2+ chelate.
• ruthenium labeling groups are described, for example, in EP 0 580 979, WO 90/05301, WO 90/11511, and WO 92/14138.
• Some compounds as used in the immunoassay and method as reported herein are conjugated to a member of a binding pair.
• the conjugation is in one embodiment performed by chemical binding via N-terminal and/or ⁇ -amino groups (lysine), ⁇ - amino groups of different lysins, carboxy-, sulfhydryl-, hydroxyl- and/or phenolic functional groups of the amino acid backbone of the compound and/or sugar alcohol groups of the carbohydrate structure of the compound.
• the conjugated compound is in one embodiment a mixture of at least two compounds conjugated to a member of a binding pair, wherein the at least two compounds in the mixture differ in the site at which they are conjugated to the member of the binding pair.
• the mixture may comprise a conjugation via an amino acid of the amino acid backbone and a conjugation via a sugar alcohol group of a carbohydrate.
• the mixture may comprise compounds conjugated to the member of a binding pair via different amino acid residues of the amino acid backbone.
• the expression "different amino acid residue” denotes either two different kinds of amino acids, such as e.g. lysine and aspartic acid, or tyrosine and glutamic acid, or two amino acid residues of the amino acid backbone differing in their position in the amino acid sequence of the compound. In the latter case the amino acid can be of the same kind or of different kind.
• the expression "differ in the site” denotes a difference either in the kind of site, e.g. amino acid or sugar alcohol group, or in the number of the amino acid of the amino acid backbone, e.g. at which the compound is conjugated to the member of the binding pair.
• anti-idiotypic antibody denotes an antibody, which specifically binds to a binding specificity such as a binding site of a parent antibody, i.e. which is directed e.g. against an antigen binding site of a parent antibody. In one embodiment the anti-idiotypic antibody specifically binds to one or more of the CDRs of the parent antibody. In one embodiment the parent antibody is a therapeutic antibody. In one embodiment the parent antibody is a multispecific antibody. In one embodiment the parent antibody is a bispecific antibody. The term “total” therapeutic antibody refers to any antibody detected irrespective of whether the antibody is active (i.e., still reactive with its antigen), inactive, and/or antigen-bound.
• active therapeutic antibody relates to the therapeutic antibody present in an experimental animal that still is capable of binding its antigen. Such antibodies, e.g., have not bound its antigen or any other molecule at its antigen binding site.
• antigen-bound therapeutic antibody is used to indicate the therapeutic antibody as present in the circulation of an experimental animal that is bound to its antigen. Total, active or antigen-bound therapeutic antibody as defined above can be directly detected in a method according to the present invention.
• inactive therapeutic antibody may, e.g., be a therapeutic antibody bound to its antigen, the therapeutic antibody bound to a cross-reactive antigen, or the therapeutic antibody blocked by an auto antibody against the therapeutic antibody.
• inactive therapeutic antibody may, e.g., be a therapeutic antibody bound to its antigen, the therapeutic antibody bound to a cross-reactive antigen, or the therapeutic antibody blocked by an auto antibody against the therapeutic antibody.
• total therapeutic antibody is detected in a sandwich type immunoassay, wherein an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof is used at both sides of such sandwich assay.
• the antibody used at one side of such sandwich is bound or capable of binding to a solid phase (often referred to as capture antibody), whereas the antibody at the other side of such sandwich is labeled in such a manner that direct or indirect detection is facilitated (so-called detection antibody).
• detection antibody the amount of detection antibody bound in such sandwich assay procedure is directly correlated to the amount of therapeutic antibody in the sample investigated.
• assay systems which allow for the detection of active therapeutic antibodies.
• Such systems require the binding of the antigen to a solid phase, binding of the therapeutic antibody to this bound antigen and detection of the therapeutic antibody bound via the antigen to the solid phase.
• Detection of active therapeutic antibody in a sample may be achieved by convenient state of the art procedures.
• the detection of total therapeutic antibody or of the fraction of therapeutic antibody bound to its antigen is rather complicated and requires quite different assay set-ups and especially requires tailor-made reagents for each of the different assays.
• With the antibodies as reported herein it is possible to assess the fraction of active therapeutic antibody, total therapeutic antibody, or antigen-bound therapeutic antibody in test systems which are analogues to each other. By its very nature this kind of comparative assessment of total, active, or antigen-bound therapeutic antibody should have big advantages once quantitative comparisons are made in between these various fractions of therapeutic antibody.
• a sandwich type assay format can (also) be set up to detect the active therapeutic antibody.
• an antibody as reported herein or an Fc- region binding fragment thereof is used as a capture antibody and the detection side of such sandwich assay either makes use of the antigen in a labeled form or after binding of the antigen makes use of a second antibody not binding to or competing with the epitope recognized by the therapeutic antibody, wherein said second antibody is specifically detectable and/or is labeled in such a manner that direct or indirect detection is facilitated.
• the antigen-bound therapeutic antibody preferably is detected in a sandwich type assay format again preferably using an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof as a capture reagent.
• a second antibody is used binding to the antigen at an epitope which does not compete with the epitope of the therapeutic antibody.
• Said second antibody preferably is labeled in such a manner that direct or indirect detection is facilitated.
• the labeling group can be selected from any known detectable marker groups, such as dyes, luminescent labeling groups such as chemiluminescent groups, e.g. acridinium esters or dioxetanes, or fluorescent dyes, e.g. fluorescein, coumarin, rhodamine, oxazine, resomfm, cyanine and derivatives thereof.
• Other examples of labeling groups are luminescent metal complexes, such as ruthenium or europium complexes, enzymes, e.g. as used for ELISA or for CEDIA (Cloned Enzyme Donor Immunoassay, e.g. EP-A-0 061 888), and radioisotopes.
• Indirect detection systems comprise, for example, that the detection reagent, e.g., the detection antibody is labeled with a first partner of a bioaffme binding pair.
• suitable binding pairs are hapten or antigen/antibody, biotin or biotin analogues such as aminobiotin, iminobiotin or desthiobiotin/avidin or streptavidin, sugar/lectin, nucleic acid or nucleic acid analogue/complementary nucleic acid, and receptor/ligand, e.g., steroid hormone receptor/steroid hormone.
• Preferred first binding pair members comprise hapten, antigen and hormone. Especially preferred are haptens like digoxin and biotin and analogues thereof.
• the second partner of such binding pair e.g. an antibody, streptavidin, etc., usually is labeled to allow for direct detection, e.g., by the labels as mentioned above.
• Immunoassays are well known to the skilled artisan. Methods for carrying out such assays as well as practical applications and procedures are summarized in related textbooks. Examples of related textbooks are Tijssen, P., Preparation of enzyme- antibody or other enzyme-macromolecule conjugates (in: “Practice and theory of enzyme immunoassays” (1990), pp. 221-278, Eds. R.H. Burdon and v. P.H. Knippenberg, Elsevier, Amsterdam) and various volumes of "Methods in Enzymology” (Eds. S.P. Colowick, N.O. Caplan, Academic Press), dealing with immunological detection methods, especially volumes 70, 73, 74, 84, 92 and 121.
• reagent conditions are chosen which allow for binding of the reagents employed, e.g. for binding of an antibody to its corresponding antigen.
• the skilled artisan refers to the result of such binding event by using the term complex.
• the complex formed in an assay method according to the present invention is correlated by state of the art procedures to the corresponding concentration of said therapeutic antibody. Depending on the detection reagent employed this correlating step will result in the concentration of total, active or antigen-bound therapeutic antibody.
• the methods according to the present invention will not only reveal the concentrations of total, antigen-bound, active or even inactive therapeutic antibody. Due to the preferred use of one and the same reagent, an antibody as reported herein or an Fc-region binding fragment thereof, in the different assays the values obtained can be easily compared to each other and even ratios thereof assessed. In a further preferred embodiment the present invention relates to the ratio of active to total therapeutic antibody. This ratio may well serve as an indicator for the efficacy of a therapeutic antibody.
• any of the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibodies provided herein is useful for detecting the presence of a therapeutic antibody comprising a variant Fc-region with the mutation(s) P329G(/L234A/L235A) or the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A in a biological sample.
• the term "detecting" as used herein encompasses quantitative or qualitative detection.
• a biological sample comprises a biological fluid, such as e.g. blood serum.
• an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody for use in a method of diagnosis or detection is provided.
• a method of detecting the presence of a therapeutic antibody comprising a variant Fc-region with the mutation P329G or the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A in a biological sample comprises contacting the biological sample with an anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody as described herein under conditions permissive for binding of the anti-variant (human) Fc- region antibody to a therapeutic antibody comprising a variant Fc-region with the mutation P329G or the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A, and detecting whether a complex is formed between the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody and the therapeutic antibody comprising a variant Fc-region with the mutation P329G or the mutations I253A/H310A/H435A.
• Such method may be an in vitro or in vivo method.
• labeled anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibodies include, but are not limited to, labels or moieties that are detected directly (such as fluorescent, chromophoric, electron-dense, chemiluminescent, and radioactive labels), as well as moieties, such as enzymes or ligands, that are detected indirectly, e.g., through an enzymatic reaction or molecular interaction.
• Exemplary labels include, but are not limited to, the radioisotopes P, C, I, H, and 13 T, fluorophores such as rare earth chelates or fluorescein and its derivatives, rhodamine and its derivatives, dansyl, umbelliferone, luceriferases, e.g., firefly luciferase and bacterial luciferase (US 4,737,456), luciferin, 2,3- dihydrophthalazinediones, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), alkaline phosphatase, ⁇ - galactosidase, glucoamylase, lysozyme, saccharide oxidases, e.g., glucose oxidase, galactose oxidase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, heterocyclic oxidases such as uricase and xanthine oxidase, coupled with an enzyme that employs hydrogen
• Desired gene segments can be prepared from oligonucleotides made by chemical synthesis.
• the long gene segments which can be flanked by singular restriction endonuclease cleavage sites, can be assembled by annealing and ligating oligonucleotides including PCR amplification and subsequently cloned via the indicated restriction sites.
• the DNA sequences of the subcloned gene fragments can be confirmed by DNA sequencing.
• DNA sequence determination DNA sequences can be determined by double strand sequencing.
• GCG Genetics Computer Group, Madison, Wisconsin
• Infomax's Vector NTl Advance suite version 8.0 can be used for sequence creation, mapping, analysis, annotation and illustration.
• expression plasmids for transient expression e.g. in HEK293 cells
• the vector may contain: an origin of replication which allows replication of this plasmid in E. coli, and
• the transcription unit of the antibody gene may be composed of the following elements: unique restriction site(s) at the 5 ' end
• fusion genes encoding the antibody chains can be generated by PCR and/or gene synthesis and assembled by known recombinant methods and techniques by connection of the according nucleic acid segments e.g. using unique restriction sites in the respective vectors.
• the subcloned nucleic acid sequences can be verified by DNA sequencing.
• larger quantities of the plasmids can be prepared by plasmid preparation from transformed E. coli cultures.
• Antibodies can be produced by transient expression. Therefore a transfection with the respective plasmids using the HEK293 system (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instruction can be done. Briefly, HEK293 cells (Invitrogen) growing in suspension either in a shake flask or in a stirred fermenter in serum- free
• FreeStyleTM 293 expression medium (Invitrogen) can be transfected with a mix of the respective expression plasmids and 293fectinTM or fectin (Invitrogen).
• HEK293 cells can be seeded at a density of 1.0* 10 6 cells/mL in 600 mL and incubated at 120 rpm, 8% C0 2 .
• the cells can be transfected at a cell density of approx. 1.5 * 10 6 cells/mL with approx.
• the protein concentration of purified antibodies and derivatives can be determined by determining the optical density (OD) at 280 nm, using the molar extinction coefficient calculated on the basis of the amino acid sequence according to Pace, et al, Protein Science 4 (1995) 2411-1423. Antibody concentration determination in supematants
• the concentration of antibodies and derivatives in cell culture supematants can be estimated by immunoprecipitation with protein A agarose-beads (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany). Therefore, 60 protein A Agarose beads can be washed three times in TBS-NP40 (50 mM Tris buffer, pH 7.5, supplemented with 150 mM NaCl and 1% Nonidet-P40). Subsequently, 1-15 mL cell culture supernatant can be applied to the protein A Agarose beads pre- equilibrated in TBS-NP40.
• the beads can be washed on an Ultrafree-MC-filter column (Amicon) once with 0.5 mL TBS-NP40, twice with 0.5 mL 2x phosphate buffered saline (2xPBS, Roche
• Bound antibody can be eluted by addition of 35 ⁇ NuPAGE® LDS sample buffer (Invitrogen). Half of the sample can be combined with NuPAGE® sample reducing agent or left unreduced, respectively, and heated for 10 min at 70 °C. Consequently, 5-30 ⁇ can be applied to a 4-12%
• NuPAGE® Bis-Tris SDS-PAGE gel (Invitrogen) (with MOPS buffer for non- reduced SDS-PAGE and MES buffer with NuPAGE® antioxidant running buffer additive (Invitrogen) for reduced SDS-PAGE) and stained with Coomassie Blue.
• the concentration of the antibodies in cell culture supematants can be quantitatively measured by affinity HPLC chromatography. Briefly, cell culture supematants containing antibodies that bind to protein A can be applied to an Applied Biosystems Poros A/20 column in 200 mM KH 2 P0 4 , 100 mM sodium citrate, pH 7.4 and eluted with 200 mM NaCl, 100 mM citric acid, pH 2.5 on an Agilent HPLC 1100 system. The eluted antibody can be quantified by UV absorbance and integration of peak areas. A purified standard IgGl antibody served as a standard.
• the concentration of antibodies and derivatives in cell culture supematants can be measured by Sandwich-IgG-ELISA. Briefly, StreptaWell High Bind Streptavidin A-96 well microtiter plates (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) can be coated with 100 ⁇ biotinylated anti-human IgG capture molecule F(ab')2-anti-human Fcgamma antibody-BI (Dianova) at 0.1 ⁇ g/mL for 1 hour at room temperature or alternatively overnight at 4°C and subsequently washed three times with 200 ⁇ PBS, 0.05% Tween (PBST, Sigma).
• PBST 0.05% Tween
• Antibodies can be purified from filtered cell culture supernatants referring to standard protocols. In brief, antibodies can be applied to a protein A Sepharose column (GE Healthcare) and washed with PBS. Elution of antibodies can be achieved at pH 2.8 followed by immediate neutralization. Aggregated protein can be separated from monomeric antibodies by size exclusion chromatography
• Monomeric antibody fractions can be pooled, concentrated (if required) using e.g., a MILLIPORE Amicon Ultra (30 MWCO) centrifugal concentrator, frozen and stored at -20°C or -80°C. Part of the samples can be provided for subsequent protein analytics and analytical characterization e.g. by SDS-PAGE, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) or mass spectrometry.
• SDS-PAGE size exclusion chromatography
• SEC size exclusion chromatography
• the NuPAGE® Pre-Cast gel system (Invitrogen) can be used according to the manufacturer's instruction. In particular, 10% or 4-12% NuPAGE® No vex® Bis- TRIS Pre-Cast gels (pH 6.4) and a NuPAGE® MES (reduced gels, with
• NuPAGE® antioxidant running buffer additive or MOPS (non-reduced gels) running buffer can be used.
• Size exclusion chromatography for the determination of the aggregation and oligomeric state of antibodies can be performed by HPLC chromatography. Briefly, protein A purified antibodies can be applied to a Tosoh TSKgel G3000SW column in 300 mM NaCl, 50 mM KH 2 PO 4 /K 2 HPO 4 buffer (pH 7.5) on an Dionex
• the antibodies can be deglycosylated with N-Glycosidase F in a phosphate or Tris buffer at 37°C for up to 17 h at a protein concentration of 1 mg/ml.
• the limited LysC (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) digestions can be performed with 100 ⁇ g deglycosylated antibody in a Tris buffer (pH 8) at room temperature for 120 hours, or at 37°C for 40 min, respectively.
• Prior to mass spectrometry the samples can be desalted via HPLC on a Sephadex G25 column (GE Healthcare). The total mass was determined via ESI-MS on a maXis 4G UHR- QTOF MS system (Bruker Daltonik) equipped with a TriVersa NanoMate source (Advion). Production of immunoglobulin
• Hybridoma cell lines are inoculated at initial cell densities (live cells) between 1.0 x 10 5 and 2.2 x 10 5 cells per ml in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% FCS, and commonly used supplements and expanded in a T-flask (Celline, IBS) for a period of approximately three weeks. Purification of the antibodies from the culture supernatants are done according to standard protein chemical methods, e.g. as those reported in Bruck, C, et al, Methods Enzymol. 121 (1986) 587- 596.
• dig-labelled hsFcyRI soluble human FcyRI
• dig-labelled hsFcyRI soluble human FcyRI
• the following Table shows the extinction values determined for an anti- VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A in serum with the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody Ml .3.17 (SEQ ID NO: 03 and 04) as reported herein as capture antibody.
• tracer antibody 1.7.10-Dig
• assay C capture antibody: M1.6.22-Bi/M1.7.24-Bi/M1.3.17-Bi
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235 A/1253 A/H310A/H435 A
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235A
• anti-P-Selectin antibody (IgG4 subclass with mutations S228P/L235E)
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody wild-type IgGl subclass
• tracer antibody 1.7.10-Dig/M 1.19.31 -Dig
• Ml .7.10 anti-IgGl kappa antibody
• Ml .19.31 anti-IgGl kappa antibody
• Ml .7.24 anti-PGLALA variant Fc-region antibody
• anti-Dig antibody (IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235A)
• Biotinylated anti-human kappa antibody Ml .7.10 was bound to the wells of a streptavidin-coated multi-well plate (SA-MTP) to produce a capture plate. Excess of unbound antibody was removed by washing. Sample/standard antibodies spiked in human and cynomolgus monkey serum (10 % final concentration) was added to wells of the SA-MTP multi-well plate coated with the capture plate and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. After washing, the wells were incubated with digoxigenylated anti-PGLALA Fc-region antibody or anti-AAA Fc-region antibody, respectively.
• SA-MTP streptavidin-coated multi-well plate
• the following Table shows the extinction values determined for an anti- VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A in serum with the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody Ml .7.24 (SEQ ID NO: 07 and 08) as reported herein as tracer antibody.
• tracer antibody M1.6.22-Dig/M1.7.24-Dig/M1.3.17-Dig
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235 A/1253 A/H310A/H435 A
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235A
• anti-P-Selectin antibody (IgG4 subclass with mutations S228P/L235E)
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody wild-type IgGl subclass
• the following Table shows the extinction values determined for an cytokine (IL-2) antibody conjugate with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A in serum with an anti-IL2 antibody as capture antibody and the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody Ml .7.24 (SEQ ID NO: 07 and 08) as reported herein as tracer antibody.
• IL-2 cytokine
• the following Table shows the extinction values determined for an anti- VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A in serum with the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody Ml .3.17
• Biotinylated anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A and digoxigenylated anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A were pre-incubated with the diluted sample or standards overnight at room temperature. After pre -incubation, the samples were transferred to a streptavidin- coated multi-well plate and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. Excess of unbound antibody was removed by washing.
• the bound digoxigenylated complexes comprising biotinylated and digoxigenylated anti- VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A as well as the anti-PG Fc-region antibody Ml .3.17 (SEQ ID NO: 03 and 04) or anti-drug antibody, respectively, were detected with an horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labelled anti-digoxigenin-antibody.
• HRP present in the formed complex catalyzes the conversion of ABTS into a colored product. The signal was measured by Elisa reader at 405 nm wavelength (reference wavelength: 490 nm). Absorbance values of each serum sample were determined in triplicates.
• the following Table shows the extinction values determined for an anti- VEGF/ANG2 antibody with the mutations P329G, L234A, L235A, 1253 A, H310A, and H435A in serum as capture antibody (biotinylated) as well as as tracer antibody (digoxigenylated) with the anti-variant (human) Fc-region antibody Ml .3.17 (SEQ ID NO: 03 and 04) as reported herein as standard antibody.
• Biotinylated anti-PGLALA Fc-region antibody was bound to the wells of a streptavidin-coated multi-well plate (SA-MTP) to produce a capture plate. Excess of unbound antibody was removed by washing. Sample/standard antibodies spiked in human and cynomolgus monkey serum (10 % final concentration) was added to wells of the SA-MTP multi-well plate coated with the capture plate and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. After washing, the wells were incubated with digoxigenylated anti-human kappa antibody Ml .7.10 (see e.g. WO 2011/048043, incorporated herein by reference).
• tracer antibody 1.7.10-Dig
• Ml .7.10 anti-IgGl kappa antibody
• Ml .7.24 anti-PGLALA variant Fc-region antibody
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235 A/1253 A/H310A/H435 A
• anti-VEGF/ANG2 antibody IgGl subclass with mutations P329G/L234A/L235A
• biotinylated effector function silent therapeutic antibody sample from a human study using the effector function silent therapeutic antibody, as well as digoxigenylated effector function silent therapeutic antibody were pre-incubated overnight at room temperature (RT) on a microtiter plate (MTP) shaker (500 rpm, 1 ⁇ g/ml final capture and tracer concentration; 0-100 ng/ml sample concentration).
• MTP microtiter plate
• pre-incubated samples were transferred to a streptavidin coated MTP (SA-MTP). The excess of unbound complex was removed by washing three times with 300 buffer each.
• Biotinylated anti-PGLALA antibody was bound to streptavidin-coated microtiter plates (SA-MTP) in the first step. Excess of unbound antibody was removed by washing. Samples comprising a complex of effector function silent therapeutic antibody and anti-drug antibody from a study in human serum was added to the wells and incubated for one hour. After washing, the wells were incubated with digoxigenylated human FcyRI. After washing the bound digoxigenylated human FcyRI was detected with a horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated anti- digoxigenin antibody. After a further washing step, ABTS substrate was added. The signal was measured by ELISA reader at 405 nm wavelength (reference wavelength: 490 nm). Absorbance values of each serum sample were determined in duplicates.
• HRP horseradish peroxidase
• biotinylated anti-PG antibody was bound to the wells of a streptavidin- coated multi-well plate (SA-MTP) to produce a capture plate. Excess of unbound antibody was removed by washing (3 times with 300 ⁇ ). 100 ⁇ sample/standard antibodies were added to wells of the SA-MTP multi-well plate coated with the capture antibody and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature.
• SA-MTP streptavidin- coated multi-well plate
• Samples include anti target X antibodies (I) with PG(LALA) modification and target X, both free and bound.
• the anti-target antibody (I) will be bound to that plate.
• Anti-target antibodies (I) and (II) are able to bind target X simultaneously. After washing (3 times with 300 ⁇ ) the bound digoxigenylated anti-target antibody (II) was incubated with a 100 ⁇ of 50 mU/mL horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labelled anti-digoxigenin antibody. After another washing step, 100 ⁇ of an ABTS solution was added to the wells. The product of the color reaction was measured by Elisa reader at 405 nm wavelength (reference wavelength: 490 nm). Absorbance values of each sample or standard were determined in triplicates.
• HRP horseradish peroxidase

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