Reducing affinity as a strategy to boost immunomodulatory antibody agonism

Xiaojie Yu, Christian M. Orr, H. T. Claude Chan, Sonya James, Christine A. Penfold, Jinny Kim, Tatyana Inzhelevskaya, C. Ian Mockridge, Kerry L. Cox, Jonathan W. Essex, Ivo Tews, Martin J. Glennie and Mark S. Cragg ()
Additional contact information
Xiaojie Yu: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Christian M. Orr: Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
H. T. Claude Chan: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Sonya James: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Christine A. Penfold: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Jinny Kim: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Tatyana Inzhelevskaya: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
C. Ian Mockridge: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Kerry L. Cox: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Jonathan W. Essex: University of Southampton
Ivo Tews: University of Southampton
Martin J. Glennie: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine
Mark S. Cragg: University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine

Nature, 2023, vol. 614, issue 7948, 539-547

Abstract: Abstract Antibody responses during infection and vaccination typically undergo affinity maturation to achieve high-affinity binding for efficient neutralization of pathogens1,2. Similarly, high affinity is routinely the goal for therapeutic antibody generation. However, in contrast to naturally occurring or direct-targeting therapeutic antibodies, immunomodulatory antibodies, which are designed to modulate receptor signalling, have not been widely examined for their affinity–function relationship. Here we examine three separate immunologically important receptors spanning two receptor superfamilies: CD40, 4-1BB and PD-1. We show that low rather than high affinity delivers greater activity through increased clustering. This approach delivered higher immune cell activation, in vivo T cell expansion and antitumour activity in the case of CD40. Moreover, an inert anti-4-1BB monoclonal antibody was transformed into an agonist. Low-affinity variants of the clinically important antagonistic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody nivolumab also mediated more potent signalling and affected T cell activation. These findings reveal a new paradigm for augmenting agonism across diverse receptor families and shed light on the mechanism of antibody-mediated receptor signalling. Such affinity engineering offers a rational, efficient and highly tuneable solution to deliver antibody-mediated receptor activity across a range of potencies suitable for translation to the treatment of human disease.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05673-2

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