Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play a central role for both innate and adaptive antiviral responses, as they direct immune responses through their unique ability to produce substantial concentrations of type I interferon (IFNs) upon viral encounter while also activating multiple immune cells, including macrophages, DCs, B, natural killer and T cells. Recent evidence clearly indicates that pDCs also play a crucial role in some cancers and several auto-immune diseases. Although treatments are currently available to patients with such pathologies, many are not fully efficient. We are proposing here, as a new targeted-based therapy, a novel chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb) that mediates a strong cellular cytotoxicity directed against a specific human pDC marker, CD303. This antibody, ch122A2 mAb, is characterized by low fucose content in its human IgG1 constant (Fc) region, which induces strong in vitro and in vivo activity against human pDCs. We demonstrated that this effect relates in part to its specific Fc region glycosylation pattern, which increased affinity for CD16/FcγRIIIa. Importantly, ch122A2 mAb induces the down-modulation of CpG-induced IFN-α secretion by pDCs. Additionally, ch122A2 mAb shows in vitro high pDC depletion mediated by antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis. Remarkably, in vivo ch122A2 mAb efficacy is also demonstrated in humanized mice, resulting in significant pDC depletion in bloodstream and secondary lymphoid organs such as spleen. Together, our data indicates that ch122A2 mAb could represent a promising cytotoxic mAb candidate for pathologies in which decreasing type I IFNs or pDCs depleting may improve patient prognosis.
Keywords: Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm; CD303; autoimmune disease; plasmacytoid dendritic cells; therapeutic antibody.