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Immunoglobulin G-based monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have become a dominant class of biotherapeutics in recent decades. Approved antibodies are mainly of the subclasses IgG1, IgG2, and IgG4, as well as their derivatives. Over the decades, the selection of IgG subclass has frequently been based on the needs of Fc gamma receptor engagement and effector functions for the desired mechanism of action, while the effect on drug product developability has been less thoroughly characterized. One of the major reasons is the lack of systematic understanding of the impact of IgG subclass on the molecular properties. Several efforts have been made recently to compare molecular property differences among these IgG subclasses, but the conclusions from these studies are sometimes obscured by the interference from variable regions. To further establish mechanistic understandings, we conducted a systematic study by grafting three independent variable regions onto human IgG1, an IgG1 variant, IgG2, and an IgG4 variant constant domains and evaluating the impact of subclass and variable regions on their molecular properties. Structural and computational analysis revealed specific molecular features that potentially account for the differential behavior of the IgG subclasses observed experimentally. Our data indicate that IgG subclass plays a significant role on molecular properties, either through direct effects or via the interplay with the variable region, the IgG1 mAbs tend to have higher solubility than either IgG2 or IgG4 mAbs in a common pH 6 buffer matrix, and solution behavior relies heavily on the charge status of the antibody at the desirable pH.

Micro- and nanoplastics are considered one of the top pollutants that threaten the environment, aquatic life and mammalian (including human) health. Unfortunately, the development of uncomplicated but reliable analytical methods that are sensitive to individual microplastic particles, with sizes smaller than 1 μm, remains incomplete. Here, we demonstrate the detection and identification of (single) micro- and nanoplastics, by using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), with Klarite substrates. Klarite is an exceptional SERS substrate; it is shaped as a dense grid of inverted pyramidal cavities, made of gold. Numerical simulations demonstrate that these cavities (or pits) strongly focus incident light into intense hotspots. We show that Klarite has the potential to facilitate the detection and identification of synthesized and atmospheric/aquatic microplastic (single) particles, with sizes down to 360 nm. We find enhancement factors of up to two orders of magnitude for polystyrene analytes. In addition, we detect and identify microplastics with sizes down to 450 nm on Klarite, with samples extracted from ambient, airborne particles. Moreover, we demonstrate Raman mapping as a fast detection technique for sub-micron microplastic particles. The results show that SERS with Klarite is a facile technique that has the potential to detect and systematically measure nanoplastics in the environment. This research is an important step towards detecting nanoscale plastic particles that may cause toxic effects to mammalian and aquatic life when present in high concentrations.

Protein aggregation is of great concern to pharmaceutical formulations and has been implicated in several diseases. We engineered an anti-IL-13 monoclonal antibody CNTO607 for improved solubility. Three structure-based engineering approaches were employed in this study: (i) modifying the isoelectric point (pI), (ii) decreasing the overall surface hydrophobicity and (iii) re-introducing an N-linked carbohydrate moiety within a complementarity-determining region (CDR) sequence. A mutant was identified with a modified pI that had a 2-fold improvement in solubility while retaining the binding affinity to IL-13. Several mutants with decreased overall surface hydrophobicity also showed moderately improved solubility while maintaining a similar antigen affinity. Structural studies combined with mutagenesis data identified an aggregation 'hot spot' in heavy-chain CDR3 (H-CDR3) that contains three residues ((99)FHW(100a)). The same residues, however, were found to be essential for high affinity binding to IL-13. On the basis of the spatial proximity and germline sequence, we reintroduced the consensus N-glycosylation site in H-CDR2 which was found in the original antibody, anticipating that the carbohydrate moiety would shield the aggregation 'hot spot' in H-CDR3 while not interfering with antigen binding. Peptide mapping and mass spectrometric analysis revealed that the N-glycosylation site was generally occupied. This variant showed greatly improved solubility and bound to IL-13 with affinity similar to CNTO607 without the N-linked carbohydrate. All three engineering approaches led to improved solubility and adding an N-linked carbohydrate to the CDR was the most effective route for enhancing the solubility of CNTO607.

Humanization of a potent neutralizing mouse anti-human IL-13 antibody (m836) using a method called human framework adaptation (HFA) is reported. HFA consists of two steps: human framework selection (HFS) and specificity-determining residue optimization (SDRO). The HFS step involved generation of a library of m836 antigen binding sites combined with diverse human germline framework regions (FRs), which were selected based on structural and sequence similarities between mouse variable domains and a repertoire of human antibody germline genes. SDRO consisted of diversifying specificity-determining residues and selecting variants with improved affinity using phage display. HFS of m836 resulted in a 5-fold loss of affinity, whereas SDRO increased the affinity up to 100-fold compared to the HFS antibody. Crystal structures of Fabs in complex with IL-13 were obtained for m836, the HFS variant chosen for SDRO, and one of the highest-affinity SDRO variants. Analysis of the structures revealed that major conformational changes in FR-H1 and FR-H3 occurred after FR replacement, but none of them had an evident direct impact on residues in contact with IL-13. Instead, subtle changes affected the V L /V H (variable-light domain/variable-heavy domain) interface and were likely responsible for the 5-fold decreased affinity. After SDRO, increased affinity resulted mainly from rearrangements in hydrogen-bonding pattern at the antibody/antigen interface. Comparison with m836 putative germline genes suggested interesting analogies between natural affinity maturation and the engineering process that led to the potent HFA anti-human IL-13 antibody.

MMP-2 is a member of the matrix metalloproteinase family that has been implicated in tumor cell metastasis and angiogenesis. Here, we describe the solution structure of a catalytic domain of MMP-2 complexed with a hydroxamic acid inhibitor (SC-74020), determined by three-dimensional heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. The catalytic domain, designated MMP-2C, has a short peptide linker replacing the internal fibronectin-domain insertion and is enzymatically active. Distance geometry-simulated annealing calculations yielded 14 converged structures with atomic root-mean-square deviations (r.m.s.d.) of 1.02 and 1.62 A from the mean coordinate positions for the backbone and for all heavy atoms, respectively, when 11 residues at the N-terminus are excluded. The structure has the same global fold as observed for other MMP catalytic domains and is similar to previously solved crystal structures of MMP-2. Differences observed between the solution and the crystal structures, near the bottom of the S1' specificity loop, appear to be induced by the large inhibitor present in the solution structure. The MMP-2C solution structure is compared with MMP-8 crystal structure bound to the same inhibitor to highlight the differences especially in the S1' specificity loop. The finding provides a structural explanation for the selectivity between MMP-2 and MMP-8 that is achieved by large inhibitors.

The sequence of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been circularly permuted by introducing new chain termini into interhelical loops and by constraining the N- and C-terminal helices, either by direct linkage of the termini (L0) or by substitution of the amino-terminal 10-residue segment with a seven-residue linker composed of glycines and serines (L1). All the circularly permuted G-CSFs (cpG-CSFs) were able to fold into biologically active structures that could recognize the G-CSF receptor. CD and NMR spectroscopy demonstrated that all of the cpG-CSFs adopted a fold similar to that of the native molecule, except for one [cpG-CSF(L1)[142/141]] which has the new termini at the end of loop 34 with the shorter L1 linker. All of the cpG-CSFs underwent cooperative unfolding by urea, and a systematically lower free energy change (DeltaGurea) was observed for molecules with the shorter L1 linker than for those molecules in which the original termini were directly linked (the L0 linker). The thermodynamic stability of the cpG-CSFs toward urea was found to correlate with their relative ability to stimulate proliferation of G-CSF responsive cells. Taken together, these results indicate that the G-CSF sequence is robust in its ability to undergo linear rearrangement and adopt a biologically active conformation. The choice of linker, with its effect on stability, seems to be important for realizing the full biological activity of the three-dimensional structure. The breakpoint and linker together are the ultimate determinants of the structural and biological profiles of these circularly permuted cytokines. In the following paper [McWherter, C. A., et al. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 4564-4571], McWherter and co-workers have used circularly permuted G-CSF sequences to engineer chimeric dual IL-3 and G-CSF receptor agonists in which the relative spatial orientation of the receptor agonist domains is varied. Interpreting the differences in activity for the chimeric molecules in terms of the connectivity between domains depends critically on the results reported here for the isolated cpG-CSF domains.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a cytokine that stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. The hyperactive hIL-3 variant SC-55494 was shown to have at least two major conformations by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. Mutants of SC-55494 were constructed in which alanine was substituted for proline in order to test the hypothesis that proline cis-trans isomerization is the source of the observed conformational heterogeneity, as well as to evaluate the effect of prolyl peptide bond configuration on biological activity. NMR spectra of four single proline-to-alamine mutants (P30A, P31A, P33A, and P37A) retain doubled resonances, while spectra of the double mutant P30A/P31A and the quadruple mutant P30A/P31A/P33A/ P37A are substantially free of heterogeneity. These observations suggest that the two major conformations in SC-55494 correspond to cis and trans isomers of either or both of the R29-P30 and P30-P31 peptide bonds. All six mutants had somewhat lower cell proliferative activity than SC-55494, with relative activities ranging from 40 to 80%. The P37A mutant has a binding affinity to the low-affinity IL-3 receptor alpha-subunit statistically equivalent to SC-55494, while P30A, P31A, and P33A each had about two-fold decreases, and P30A/P31A and P30A/P31A/P33A/P37A had four-fold decreases. These findings suggest an important role for the cis configuration of either or both of the R29-P30 and P30-P31 peptide bonds in IL-3 for optimal interaction with the receptor alpha-subunit.

The three-dimensional structure and backbone dynamics of a truncated and multiply substituted recombinant human interleukin-3 (IL-3) variant (SC-65369) have been determined from multidimensional heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic data. Sequential application of distance geometry and restrained molecular dynamics calculations produced a family of 25 convergent structures which satisfy a total of 1812 experimental constraints (1659 proton-proton NOEs, 75 backbone dihedral angle constraints, and 39 pairs of hydrogen bond constraints) with an average root-mean-square deviation from the mean coordinate positions of 0.88(+/- 0.15) angstroms and 1.37(+/- 0.13) angstroms for the backbone and all heavy atoms, respectively, of all residues except 28 to 39. The structure is a left-handed four-helix bundle (comprised of helices A through D) with two long overhand loops (designated as loops AB and CD). Loop AB contains a short fifth helix (helix A') which is closely packed against helix D in an approximately parallel fashion and which has multiple contacts with loop CD. The overall molecular tumbling time (6.5 ns) determined from the 15N relaxation data was consistent with a monomeric protein under the conditions of the experiment (1 mM protein, pH 4.6, 30 degrees C). The 15N relaxation data indicate that the helical regions of SC-65369 are quite rigid, while portions of loop AB, loop CD, and the C terminus undergo significant internal motions. Among the structurally related four-helical bundle cytokines, the structure of SC-65369 is most similar to those of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and the single structural domain of interleukin-5 (IL-5), all of which share a common receptor subunit required for signal transduction and activation of their hematopoietic target cells. Indeed, the C(alpha) atoms in the four-helix core of these three proteins can be superimposed to 1.71 angstroms (SC-65369 and GM-CSF, 62 C(alpha) atoms) and 1.96 angstroms (SC-65369 and IL-5 single structural domain, 58 C(alpha) atoms), respectively. When the structures of the IL-3 variant, GM-CSF, and IL-5 were aligned, the conserved and conservatively substituted residues were found to be hydrophobic and buried, with the single exception of Glu-22 (IL-3 numbering), which is strictly conserved but nonetheless fully exposed to solvent. The most remarkable differences between the SC-65369 structure and that of GM-CSF occur in loop AB. This loop in GM-CSF crosses over the top of helix D and passes underneath loop CD on its way to helix B. In contrast, loop AB of SC-65369 passes in front of helix D, similar to the first crossover loop in human growth hormone and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. In addition, helix A', which is interdigitated into the helical bundle in a manner similar to the helices in the CD loop of interferon-beta and interferon-gamma, exists in a region where short stretches of beta-structure are found at analogous positions in GM-CSF and IL-5. These differences suggest that the structural elements within this region may be important for recognition by their cognate receptors.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a cytokine which stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors into multiple cell lineages. The 1H, 15N, and 13C NMR resonances of a recombinant human IL-3 variant (SC-65369) have been assigned using two- and three-dimensional NMR techniques on uniformly 13C/15N-enriched protein. Five helical segments (residues 16-26, 42-50, 55-65, 73-82, and 104-120) and three reverse turns (residues 51-54, 68-71, and 87-90) were identified from the pattern of sequential NOE connectivities, NH(i)-C alpha H(i) scalar coupling constants (3JNH alpha), amide hydrogen exchange data, and the deviation of 13C alpha, 13C beta, 13CO, and C alpha H chemical shifts from random-coil values. Long-range NOEs indicate that the global folding pattern of human IL-3 is a four-helical bundle with an up-up-down-down arrangement of helices that is similar to that of other members of the cytokine family, such as granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). A fifth short helix (helix A', residues 42-50) is located in the loop connecting the first and second helices. The absence of helix A' in the corresponding structures of GM-CSF and interleukin-5 suggests that it may be important for recognition of IL-3 by its receptor. The existence of at least two forms of the protein that differ in local conformation was implied from the observation of a limited set of doubled resonances in which each doublet partner had a similar pattern of short-, medium-, and long-range NOEs. The majority of the doubled resonances were close in sequence or space to a proline-rich sequence, which suggested that the different conformational forms of SC-65369 may be caused by slow cis-trans isomerization of proline peptide bonds.

Some antibodies have a tendency to self-associate leading to precipitation at relatively low concentrations. CNTO607, a monoclonal antibody, precipitates irreversibly in phosphate-buffered saline at concentrations above 13 mg/ml. Previous mutagenesis work based on the Fab crystal structure pinpointed a three residue fragment in the heavy chain CDR-3, (99)FHW(100a), as an aggregation epitope that is anchored by two salt bridges. Biophysical characterization of variants reveals that F99 and W100a, but not H100, contribute to the intermolecular interaction. A K210T/K215T mutant designed to disrupt the charge interactions in the aggregation model yielded an antibody that does not precipitate but forms reversible aggregates. An isotype change from IgG1 to IgG4 prevents the antibody from precipitating at low concentration yet the solution viscosity is elevated. To further understand the nature of the antibody self-association, studies on the Fab fragment found high solubility but significant self- and cross-interactions remain. Dynamic light scattering data provides evidence for higher order Fab structure at increased concentrations. Our results provide direct support for the aggregation model that CNTO607 precipitation results primarily from the specific interaction of the Fab arms of neighboring antibodies followed by the development of an extensive network of antibodies inducing large-scale aggregation and precipitation.

Antibodies recognize antigens through six hypervariable loops, five of which have a limited set of conformations known as canonical structures. For κ light chains, the majority of CDR-L3 [the third hypervariable loop of the light chain variable domain (V L )] adopts the type 1 canonical structure (CS1), with a cis -proline at position 95. Here, we present the design and structural studies of the monoclonal antibody mAb15 and related mutants that contained a series of progressively germline mutations only in the heavy chain variable domain (V H ) that ultimately led to an increase of more than 11 °C in the melting temperature ( T m ) of the antigen-binding fragment (Fab). The all- trans CDR-L3 structure in the wild type is significantly different from any known CDR-L3 canonical structures. In the thermally stable mutants, the L94 L –S95 L peptide bond adopts an energetically unfavorable non-X-proline cis conformation, but the overall CDR-L3 loop converted to CS1. The stabilized V H appears to function as a specific molecular chaperone that facilitated the trans – cis isomerization of S95 L . Thus, it is plausible that proline is the evolutionary choice to maintain overall structure and stability for V L . These results provide new insights into the evolution of CS1 and suggest a potential molecular switch mechanism at position 95 that links CDR-L3 structural diversity and antibody stability and will have implications for antibody engineering.

To develop a high-throughput cross-interaction chromatography screening method to rapidly identify antibody candidates with poor solubility using microgram quantities of purified material.A specific recombinant antibody or bulk polyclonal IgG purified from human serum was chemically coupled to an NHS-activated chromatography resin. The retention times of numerous monoclonal antibodies were determined on this resin using an HPLC and compared to the solubility of each antibody estimated by ultrafiltration.Retention times of the antibodies tested were found to be inversely related to solubility, with antibodies prone to precipitate at low concentrations in PBS being retained longer on the columns with broader peaks. The technique was successfully used to screen microgram quantities of a panel of therapeutic antibodies to identify candidates with low solubility in PBS.The cross-interaction chromatography methods described can be used to screen large panels of recombinant antibodies in order to discover those with low solubility. Addition of this tool to the array of tools available for characterization of affinity and activity of antibody therapeutic candidates will improve selection of candidates with biophysical properties favorable to development of high concentration antibody formulations.

Myelopoietins (MPOs) are a family of engineered dual interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor agonists that are superior in comparison to the single agonists in their ability to promote the growth and maturation of hematopoietic cells of the myeloid lineage. A series of MPO molecules were created which incorporated circularly permuted G-CSF (cpG-CSF) sequences with an IL-3 receptor (IL-3R) agonist moiety attached at locations that correspond to the loops that connect the helices of the G-CSF four-helix bundle structure. The cpG-CSF linkage sites (using the original sequence numbering) were residue 39, which is at the beginning of the first loop connecting helices 1 and 2; residue 97, which is in the turn connecting helices 2 and 3; and residues 126, 133, and 142, which are at the beginning, middle, and end, respectively, of the loop connecting helices 3 and 4. The N- and C-terminal helices of each cpG-CSF domain were constrained, either by direct linkage of the termini (L0) or by replacement of the amino-terminal 10-residue segment with a seven-residue linker composed of SGGSGGS (L1). All of the MPO molecules stimulated the proliferation of both IL-3-dependent (EC50 = 13-95 pM) and G-CSF-dependent (EC50 = 35-710 pM) cell lines. MPOs with the IL-3R agonist domain linked to cpG-CSFs in the first (residue 39) or second (residue 133) long overhand loops were found by CD spectroscopy to have helical contents similar to that expected for a protein comprised of two linked four-helix bundles. The MPOs retained the ability to bind to the IL-3R with affinities similar to that of the parental MPO. Using both a cell surface competitive binding assay and surface plasmon resonance detection of binding kinetics, the MPOs were found to bind to the G-CSF receptor with low nanomolar affinities, similar to that of G-CSF(S17). In a study of isolated cpG-CSF domains [Feng, Y., et al. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 4553-4563], domains with the L1 linker had lower G-CSF receptor-mediated proliferative activities and conformational stabilities than those which had the L0 linker. A similar trend was found for the MPOs in which the G-CSFR agonist activity is mostly a property of the cpG-CSF domain. Important exceptions were found in which the linkage to the IL-3R agonist domain either restored (e.g., attachment at residue 142) or further decreased (linkage at residue 39) the G-CSFR-mediated proliferative activity. MPO in which the IL-3R agonist domain is attached to the cpG-CSF(L1)[133/132] domain was shown to be more potent than the coaddition of the IL-3R agonist and G-CSF in stimulating the production of CFU-GM colonies in a human bone marrow-derived CD34+ colony-forming unit assay. Several MPOs also had decreased proinflammatory activity in a leukotriene C4 release assay using N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe-primed human monocytes. It was found that circular permutation of the G-CSF domain can alter the ratio of G-CSFR:IL-3R agonist activities, demonstrating that it is a useful tool in engineering chimeric proteins with therapeutic potential.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a member of the cytokine superfamily that promotes multi-potential hematopoietic cell growth by interacting with a cell surface receptor composed of alpha and beta chains. The newly available three-dimensional structure of a variant of human (h) IL-3 allowed us to evaluate new and existing mutagenesis data and to rationally interpret the structure-function relationship of hIL-3 on a structural basis. The amino acid residues that were identified to be important for hIL-3 activity are grouped into two classes. The first class consists of largely hydrophobic residues required for the structural integrity of the protein, including the residues in IL-3 that are largely conserved among 10 mammalian species. These residues form the core of a scaffold for the second class of more rapidly diverging solvent-exposed residues, likely to be required for interaction with the receptor. Ten important and solvent-exposed residues, Asp21, Gly42, Glu43, Gln45, Asp46, Met49, Arg94, Pro96, Phe113, and Lys116, map to one side of the protein and form a putative binding site for the alpha subunit of the receptor. A model of the IL-3.IL-3 receptor complex based on the human growth hormone (hGH).hGH soluble receptor complex structure suggests that the interface between IL-3 and the IL-3 receptor alpha subunit consists of a cluster of hydrophobic residues flanked by electrostatic interactions. Although the IL-3/IL-3 receptor beta subunit interface cannot be uniquely located due to the lack of sufficient experimental data, several residues of the beta subunit that may interact with Glu22 of IL-3 are proposed. The role of these residues can be tested in future mutagenesis studies to define the interaction between IL-3 and IL-3 receptor beta subunit.