Recombinant human IgG antibodies (hIgGs) completely devoid of binding to Fcγ receptors (FcγRs) and complement protein C1q, and thus with abolished immune effector functions, are of use for various therapeutic applications in order to reduce FcγR activation and Fc-mediated toxicity. Fc engineering approaches described to date only partially achieve this goal or employ a large number of mutations, which may increase the risk of anti-drug antibody generation. We describe here two new, engineered hIgG Fc domains, hIgG1-P329G LALA and hIgG4-P329G SPLE, with completely abolished FcγR and C1q interactions, containing a limited number of mutations and with unaffected FcRn interactions and Fc stability. Both 'effector-silent' Fc variants are based on a novel Fc mutation, P329G that disrupts the formation of a proline sandwich motif with the FcγRs. As this motif is present in the interface of all IgG Fc/FcγR complexes, its disruption can be applied to all human and most of the other mammalian IgG subclasses in order to create effector silent IgG molecules.

The importance and effect of Fc glycosylation of monoclonal antibodies with regard to biological activity is widely discussed and has been investigated in numerous studies. Fc glycosylation of monoclonal antibodies from current production systems is subject to batch-to-batch variability. If there are glycosylation changes between different batches, these changes are observed not only for one but multiple glycan species. Therefore, studying the effect of distinct Fc glycan species such as galactosylated and sialylated structures is challenging due to the lack of well-defined differences in glycan patterns of samples used. In this study, the influence of IgG1 Fc galactosylation and sialylation on its effector functions has been investigated using five different samples which were produced from one single drug substance batch by in vitro glycoengineering. This sample set comprises preparations with minimal and maximal galactosylation and different levels of sialylation of fully galactosylated Fc glycans. Among others, Roche developed the glycosyltransferase enzyme sialyltransferase which was used for the in vitro glycoengineering activities at medium scale. A variety of analytical assays, including Surface Plasmon Resonance and recently developed FcγR affinity chromatography, as well as an optimized cell-based ADCC assay were applied to investigate the effect of Fc galactosylation and sialylation on the in vitro FcγRI, IIa, and IIIa receptor binding and ADCC activity of IgG1. The results of our studies do not show an impact, neither positive nor negative, of sialic acid- containing Fc glycans of IgG1 on ADCC activity, FcγRI, and RIIIa receptors, but a slightly improved binding to FcγRIIa. Furthermore, we demonstrate a galactosylation-induced positive impact on the binding activity of the IgG1 to FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa receptors and ADCC activity.

ClpC of

Modifications like asparagine deamidation, aspartate isomerization, methionine oxidation, and lysine glycation are typical degradations for recombinant antibodies. For the identification and functional evaluation of antibody critical quality attributes (CQAs) derived from chemical modifications in the complementary-determining regions (CDRs) and the conserved regions, an approach employing specific stress conditions, elevated temperatures, pH, oxidizing agents, and forced glycation with glucose incubation, was applied. The application of the specific stress conditions combined with ion exchange chromatography, proteolytic peptide mapping, quantitative liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, and functional evaluation by surface plasmon resonance analysis was adequate to identify and functionally assess chemical modification sites in the CDRs of a recombinant IgG1. LC-Met-4, LC-Asn-30/31, LC-Asn-92, HC-Met-100c, and HC Lys-33 were identified as potential CQAs. However, none of the assessed degradation products led to a complete loss of functionality if only one light or heavy chain of the native antibody was affected.

The AAA þ protein ClpC is not only involved in the removal of misfolded and aggregated proteins but also controls, through regulated proteolysis, key steps of several developmental processes in the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. In contrast to other AAA þ proteins, ClpC is unable to mediate these processes without an adaptor protein like MecA. Here, we demonstrate that the general activation of ClpC is based upon the ability of MecA to participate in the assembly of an active and substrate-recognizing higher oligomer consisting of ClpC and the adaptor protein, which is a prerequisite for all activities of this AAA þ protein. Using hybrid proteins of ClpA and ClpC, we identified the N-terminal and the Linker domain of the first AAA þ domain of ClpC as the essential MecA interaction sites. This new adaptormediated mechanism adds another layer of control to the regulation of the biological activity of AAA þ proteins.