Beyond CDR-grafting: structure-guided humanization of framework and CDR regions of an anti-myostatin antibody

JR Apgar, M Mader, R Agostinelli, S Benard, P Bialek… - MAbs, 2016 - Taylor & Francis
JR Apgar, M Mader, R Agostinelli, S Benard, P Bialek, M Johnson, Y Gao, M Krebs, J Owens…
MAbs, 2016Taylor & Francis
Antibodies are an important class of biotherapeutics that offer specificity to their antigen,
long half-life, effector function interaction and good manufacturability. The immunogenicity of
non-human-derived antibodies, which can be a major limitation to development, has been
partially overcome by humanization through complementarity-determining region (CDR)
grafting onto human acceptor frameworks. The retention of foreign content in the CDR
regions, however, is still a potential immunogenic liability. Here, we describe the …
Abstract
Antibodies are an important class of biotherapeutics that offer specificity to their antigen, long half-life, effector function interaction and good manufacturability. The immunogenicity of non-human-derived antibodies, which can be a major limitation to development, has been partially overcome by humanization through complementarity-determining region (CDR) grafting onto human acceptor frameworks. The retention of foreign content in the CDR regions, however, is still a potential immunogenic liability. Here, we describe the humanization of an anti-myostatin antibody utilizing a 2-step process of traditional CDR-grafting onto a human acceptor framework, followed by a structure-guided approach to further reduce the murine content of CDR-grafted antibodies. To accomplish this, we solved the co-crystal structures of myostatin with the chimeric (Protein Databank (PDB) id 5F3B) and CDR-grafted anti-myostatin antibody (PDB id 5F3H), allowing us to computationally predict the structurally important CDR residues as well as those making significant contacts with the antigen. Structure-based rational design enabled further germlining of the CDR-grafted antibody, reducing the murine content of the antibody without affecting antigen binding. The overall “humanness” was increased for both the light and heavy chain variable regions.
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