Recombinant immunotoxin against B-cell malignancies with no immunogenicity in mice by removal of B-cell epitopes

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Apr 5;108(14):5742-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1102746108. Epub 2011 Mar 21.

Abstract

Many nonhuman proteins have useful pharmacological activities, but are infrequently effective in humans because of their high immunogenicity. A recombinant immunotoxin (HA22, CAT8015, moxetumomab pasudotox) composed of an anti-CD22 antibody variable fragment fused to PE38, a 38-kDa portion of Pseudomonas exotoxin A, has produced many complete remissions in drug-resistant hairy-cell leukemia when several cycles of the agent can be given, but has much less activity when antibodies develop. We have pursued a strategy to deimmunize recombinant immunotoxins by identifying and removing B-cell epitopes. We previously reported that we could eliminate most B-cell epitopes using a combination of point mutations and deletions. Here we show the location and amino acid composition of all of the B-cell epitopes in the remaining 25-kDa portion of Pseudomonas exotoxin. Using this information, we eliminated these epitopes to produce an immunotoxin (HA22-LR-8M) that is fully cytotoxic against malignant B-cell lines, has high cytotoxic activity against cells directly isolated from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and has excellent antitumor activity in mice. HA22-LR-8M does not induce antibody formation in mice when given repeatedly by intravenous injection and does not induce a secondary antibody response when given to mice previously exposed to HA22. HA22-LR-8M also has greatly reduced antigenicity when exposed to sera from patients who have produced antibodies to HA22. The properties of HA22-LR-8M make it an excellent candidate for further clinical development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • ADP Ribose Transferases / genetics
  • ADP Ribose Transferases / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Bacterial Toxins / genetics
  • Bacterial Toxins / metabolism*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / genetics*
  • Exotoxins / genetics
  • Exotoxins / metabolism*
  • Immunization, Passive / methods*
  • Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / drug therapy*
  • Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis
  • Protein Engineering / methods*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exotoxin A
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / immunology*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / therapeutic use
  • Statistics, Nonparametric
  • Virulence Factors / genetics
  • Virulence Factors / metabolism*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Bacterial Toxins
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • Exotoxins
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Virulence Factors
  • immunotoxin HA22
  • ADP Ribose Transferases