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Taylor and Francis Group, mAbs, 1(7), p. 138-151, 2015

DOI: 10.4161/19420862.2014.985993

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A generic approach to engineer antibody pH-switches using combinatorial histidine scanning libraries and yeast display

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Abstract There is growing interest in the fast and robust engineering of protein pH-sensitivity that aims to reduce binding at acidic pH, compared to neutral pH. Here, we describe a novel strategy for the incorporation of pH-sensitive antigen binding functions into antibody variable domains using combinatorial histidine scanning libraries and yeast surface display. The strategy allows simultaneous screening for both, high affinity binding at pH 7.4 and pH-sensitivity, and excludes conventional negative selection steps. As proof of concept, we applied this strategy to incorporate pH-dependent antigen binding into the complementary-determining regions of adalimumab. After three consecutive rounds of separate heavy and light chain library screening, pH-sensitive variants could be isolated. Heavy and light chain mutations were combined, resulting in three full-length antibody variants that revealed sharp, reversible pH-dependent binding profiles. Dissociation rate constants at pH 6.0 increased 230-780 fold, while high affinity binding at pH 7.4 in the sub-nanomolar range was retained. Furthermore, binding to huFcRn and thermal stability were not affected by histidine substitutions. Overall, this study emphasizes a generalizable strategy for engineering pH-switch functions potentially applicable to a variety of antibodies and further proteins-based therapeutics.