Development of the clinical candidate PBD-C06, a humanized pGlu3-Aβ-specific antibody against Alzheimer's disease with reduced complement activation

Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 24;10(1):3294. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60319-5.

Abstract

In clinical trials with early Alzheimer's patients, administration of anti-amyloid antibodies reduced amyloid deposits, suggesting that immunotherapies may be promising disease-modifying interventions against Alzheimer's disease (AD). Specific forms of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides, for example post-translationally modified Aβ peptides with a pyroglutamate at the N-terminus (pGlu3, pE3), are attractive antibody targets, due to pGlu3-Aβ's neo-epitope character and its propensity to form neurotoxic oligomeric aggregates. We have generated a novel anti-pGlu3-Aβ antibody, PBD-C06, which is based on a murine precursor antibody that binds with high specificity to pGlu3-Aβ monomers, oligomers and fibrils, including mixed aggregates of unmodified Aβ and pGlu3-Aβ peptides. PBD-C06 was generated by first grafting the murine antigen binding sequences onto suitable human variable light and heavy chains. Subsequently, the humanized antibody was de-immunized and site-specific mutations were introduced to restore original target binding, to eliminate complement activation and to improve protein stability. PBD-C06 binds with the same specificity and avidity as its murine precursor antibody and elimination of C1q binding did not compromise Fcγ-receptor binding or in vitro phagocytosis. Thus, PBD-C06 was specifically designed to target neurotoxic aggregates and to avoid complement-mediated inflammatory responses, in order to lower the risk for vasogenic edemas in the clinic.

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Alzheimer Disease / immunology
  • Alzheimer Disease / therapy*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / pharmacology*
  • Complement Activation*
  • Complement C1q / immunology
  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Edema / prevention & control
  • Endocytosis
  • Epitopes / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy*
  • Inflammation
  • Mice
  • Mutation
  • Phagocytosis
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational
  • Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid / chemistry*

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Epitopes
  • Complement C1q
  • Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid