Isolation and Characterization of a Monobody with a Fibronectin Domain III Scaffold That Specifically Binds EphA2

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 15;10(7):e0132976. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132976. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Monobodies are binding scaffold proteins originating from a human fibronectin domain III (Fn3) scaffold that can be easily engineered with specificity and affinity. Human EphA2 (hEphA2) is an early detection marker protein for various tumors including lung, breast, and colon cancer. In this study, we isolated two hEphA2-specific monobodies (E1 and E10) by screening a yeast surface display library. They showed the same amino acid sequence except in the DE loop and had high affinity (~2 nM Kd) against hEphA2. E1 bound only hEphA2 and mEphA2, although it bound hEphA2 with an affinity 2-fold higher than that of mEphA2. However, E10 also bound the mEphA6 and mEphA8 homologs as well as hEphA2 and mEphA2. Thus, E1 but not E10 was highly specific for hEphA2. E1 specifically bound human cells and xenograft tumor tissues expressing hEphA on the cell surface. In vivo optical imaging showed strong targeting of Cy5.5-labeled E1 to mouse tumor tissue induced by PC3 cells, a human prostate cancer cell line that expresses a high level of hEphA2. In conclusion, the highly specific monobody E1 is useful as a hEphA2 probe candidate for in vivo diagnosis and therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies / immunology
  • Antibodies / isolation & purification*
  • Antibodies / metabolism
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Fibronectins / chemistry*
  • Fibronectins / immunology
  • Fibronectins / metabolism
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays / methods
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / methods*
  • Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Peptide Library
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Receptor, EphA2 / metabolism*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Substrate Specificity
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Fibronectins
  • Peptide Library
  • Receptor, EphA2

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2014R1A6A3A04057492). Y. H was supported by a grant (HCRI14006-1) from Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital Institute for Biomedical Science.