The Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL) was screened for antibodies specific to human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) that induce programmed death of lymphoma/leukemia cells expressing the target antigen. The active Fab fragments were affinity-matured, and engineered to IgG(4) antibodies of sub-nanomolar affinity. The antibodies exhibited potent in vitro tumoricidal activity on several lymphoma and leukemia cell lines and on chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient samples. They were also active in vivo in xenograft models of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cell death occurred rapidly, without the need for exogenous immunological effector mechanisms, and was selective to activated/tumor-transformed cells. Although the expression of HLA-DR on normal hematopoietic cells is a potential safety concern, the antibodies caused no long-lasting hematological toxicity in primates, in vivo. Such monoclonal antibodies offer the potential for a novel therapeutic approach to lymphoid malignancies.

The human combinatorial antibody library Fab 1 (Hu-CAL®-Fab 1) was generated by transferring the heavy and light chain variable regions from the previously constructed single-chain Fv library (Knappik, A., Ge, L., Honegger, A., Pack, P., Fischer, M., Wellnhofer, G., Hoess, A., Wö lle, J., Plü ckthun, A., and Virnekä s, B. (2000) J. Mol. Biol. 296, 57-86), diversified in both complementarity-determining regions 3 into a novel Fab display vector, yielding 2.1 ؋ 10 10 different antibody fragments. The modularity has been retained in the Fab display and screening plasmids, ensuring rapid conversion into various antibody formats as well as antibody optimization using prebuilt maturation cassettes. Hu-CAL®-Fab 1 was challenged against the human fibroblast growth factor receptor 3, a potential therapeutic antibody target, against which, to the best of our knowledge, no functional antibodies could be generated so far. A unique screening mode was designed utilizing recombinant functional proteins and cell lines differentially expressing fibroblast growth factor receptor isoforms diversified in expression and receptor dependence. Specific Fab fragments with subnanomolar affinities were isolated by selection without any maturation steps as determined by fluorescence flow cytometry. Some of the selected Fab fragments completely inhibit targetmediated cell proliferation, rendering them the first monoclonal antibodies against fibroblast growth factor receptors having significant function blocking activity. This study validates HuCAL®-Fab 1 as a valuable source for the generation of target-specific antibodies for therapeutic applications.

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