Christoph Rademacher

Antigenic liposomes displaying CD22 ligands induce antigen-specific B cell apoptosis.

Antibodies confer humoral immunity but can also be harmful when they target an autoantigen, alloantigen, allergen, or biotherapeutic. New strategies are needed for antigen-specific suppression of undesired antibody responses, particularly to T cell-dependent protein antigens, because they elicit T cell help. Here we show that liposomal nanoparticles, displaying both antigen and glycan ligands of the inhibitory coreceptor CD22, induce a tolerogenic program that selectively causes apoptosis in mouse and human B cells. These SIGLEC-engaging tolerance-inducing antigenic liposomes (STALs, where SIGLEC is defined as sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin) induced robust antigen-specific tolerance to protein antigens in mice, preventing subsequent immune response to challenge with the same antigen. Since development of inhibitory antibodies to FVIII is a serious problem in treatment of hemophilia A patients, we investigated the potential of this approach for inducing tolerance to FVIII in a hemophilia mouse model. STALs prevented formation of inhibitory FVIII antibodies, allowing for effective administration of FVIII to hemophilia mice to prevent bleeding. These findings suggest that STALs could be used to eliminate or prevent harmful B cell-mediated immune responses.

Constrained peptides with target-adapted cross-links as inhibitors of a pathogenic protein-protein interaction.

Bioactive conformations of peptides can be stabilized by macrocyclization, resulting in increased target affinity and activity. Such macrocyclic peptides proved useful as modulators of biological functions, in particular as inhibitors of protein-protein interactions (PPI). However, most peptide-derived PPI inhibitors involve stabilized α-helices, leaving a large number of secondary structures unaddressed. Herein, we present a rational approach towards stabilization of an irregular peptide structure, using hydrophobic cross-links that replace residues crucially involved in target binding. The molecular basis of this interaction was elucidated by X-ray crystallography and isothermal titration calorimetry. The resulting cross-linked peptides inhibit the interaction between human adaptor protein 14-3-3 and virulence factor exoenzyme S. Taking into consideration that irregular peptide structures participate widely in PPIs, this approach provides access to novel peptide-derived inhibitors.

Carbohydrate-Lectin Recognition of Sequence-Defined Heteromultivalent Glycooligomers

Multivalency as a key principle in nature has been successfully adopted for the design and synthesis of artificial glycoligands by attaching multiple copies of monosaccharides to a synthetic scaffold. Besides their potential in various applied areas, e.g. as antiviral drugs, for the vaccine development and as novel biosensors, such glycomimetics also allow for a deeper understanding of the fundamental aspects of multivalent binding of both artificial and natural ligands. However, most glycomimetics so far neglect the purposeful arranged heterogeneity of their natural counterparts, thus limiting more detailed insights into the design and synthesis of novel glycomimetics. Therefore, this work presents the synthesis of monodisperse glycooligomers carrying different sugar ligands at well-defined positions along the backbone using for the first time sequential click chemistry and stepwise assembly of functional building blocks on solid support. This approach allows for straightforward access to sequence-defined, multivalent glycooligomers with full control over number, spacing, position, and type of sugar ligand. We demonstrate the synthesis of a set of heteromultivalent oligomers presenting mannose, galactose, and glucose residues. All heteromultivalent structures show surprisingly high affinities toward Concanavalin A lectin receptor in comparison to their homomultivalent analogues presenting the same number of binding ligands. Detailed studies of the ligand/receptor interaction using STD-NMR and 2fFCS indeed indicate a change in binding mechanism for trivalent glycooligomers presenting mannose or combinations of mannose and galactose residues. We find that galactose residues do not participate in the binding to the receptor, but they promote steric shielding of the heteromultivalent glycoligands and thus result in an overall increase in affinity. Furthermore, the introduction of nonbinding ligands seems to suppress receptor clustering of multivalent ligands. Overall these results support the importance of heteromultivalency specifically for the design of novel glycoligands and help to promote a fundamental understanding of multivalent binding modes.

Targeted delivery of lipid antigen to macrophages via the CD169/sialoadhesin endocytic pathway induces robust invariant natural killer T cell activation

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells induce a protective immune response triggered by foreign glycolipid antigens bound to CD1d on antigen-presenting cells (APCs). A limitation of using glycolipid antigens to stimulate immune responses in human patients has been the inability to target them to the most effective APCs. Recent studies have implicated phagocytic CD169+ macrophages as major APCs in lymph nodes for priming iNKT cells in mice immunized with glycolipid antigen in particulate form. CD169 is known as sialoadhesin (Sn), a macrophage-specific adhesion and endocytic receptor of the siglec family that recognizes sialic acid containing glycans as ligands. We have recently developed liposomes decorated with glycan ligands for CD169/Sn suitable for targeted delivery to macrophages via CD169/Sn-mediated endocytosis. Here we show that targeted delivery of a lipid antigen to CD169+ macrophages in vivo results in robust iNKT cell activation in liver and spleen using nanogram amounts of antigen. Activation of iNKT cells is abrogated in Cd169−/− mice and is macrophage-dependent, demonstrating that targeting CD169+ macrophages is sufficient for systemic activation of iNKT cells. When pulsed with targeted liposomes, human monocyte–derived dendritic cells expressing CD169/Sn activated human iNKT cells, demonstrating the conservation of the CD169/Sn endocytic pathway capable of presenting lipid antigens to iNKT cells.

Targeting Norovirus Infection—Multivalent Entry Inhibitor Design Based on NMR Experiments

Noroviruses attach to their host cells through histo blood group antigens (HBGAs), and compounds that interfere with this interaction are likely to be of therapeutic or diagnostic interest. It is shown that NMR binding studies can simultaneously identify and differentiate the site for binding HBGA ligands and complementary ligands from a large compound library, thereby facilitating the design of potent heterobifunctional ligands. Saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments, spin-lock filtered NMR experiments, and interligand NOE (ILOE) experiments in the presence of virus-like particles (VLPs), identified compounds that bind to the HBGA binding site of human norovirus. Based on these data two multivalent prototype entry-inhibitors against norovirus infection were synthesized. A surface plasmon resonance based inhibition assay showed avidity gains of 1000 and one million fold over a millimolar univalent ligand. This suggests that further rational design of multivalent inhibitors based on our strategy will identify potent entry-inhibitors against norovirus infections.

NMR Analysis of Carbohydrate-Protein Interactions

Carbohydrate-protein interactions are frequently characterized by dissociation constants in the microM to mM range. This is normally associated with fast dissociation rates of the corresponding complexes, in turn leading to fast exchange on the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift time scale and on the NMR relaxation time scale. Therefore, NMR experiments that take advantage of fast exchange are well suited to study carbohydrate-protein interactions. In general, it is possible to analyze ligand binding by observing either protein signals or ligand resonances. Because most receptor proteins to which carbohydrates bind are rather large with molecular weights significantly exceeding 30 kDa, the analysis of the corresponding protein spectra is not trivial, and only very few studies have been addressing this issue so far. We, therefore, focus on NMR experiments that employ observation of free ligand, that is, carbohydrate signals to analyze the bound state. Two types of NMR experiments have been extremely valuable to analyze carbohydrate-protein interactions at atomic resolution. Whereas transferred nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) experiments deliver bioactive conformations of carbohydrates binding to proteins, saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectra provide binding epitopes and valuable information about the binding thermodynamics and kinetics. We demonstrate the power of a combined transfer NOE/STD NMR approach for the analysis of carbohydrate-protein complexes using selected examples.

More accurate 1JCH coupling measurement in the presence of 3JHH strong coupling in natural abundance

J couplings are essential for measuring RDCs (residual dipolar couplings), now routinely used to deduce molecular structure and dynamics of glycans and proteins. Accurate measurement of (1)J(CH) is critical for RDCs to reflect the true structure and dynamics in the molecule of interest. We report noticeable discrepancies between (1)J(CH) values measured with HSQC type pulse sequences in the (1)H dimension from those measured in the (13)C dimension for 17 sugars and show that these discrepancies arise from strong scalar coupling. In order to determine how to minimize errors in measuring (1)J(CH), we analyze the strong coupling effects in detail using the product operator-formalism and spectral simulations based on the solution of the Liouville equation (not considering relaxation effects) in the presence of strong coupling. We report that the apparent (1)J(CH) measured with 2D HSQC-based sequences in either dimension can be in error by up to 4 Hz and that the values measured in the (1)H dimension can disagree with those in the (13)C dimension by up to 7 Hz. We demonstrate that spectral simulations can reproduce the errors induced by strong coupling and that these can be used to extract true (1)J(CH) values. We find that the (1)J(CH) values measured using a modified Z-filtered coupled HSQC are still affected by strong coupling. We conclude that spectral simulation yields accurate (1)J(CH) with errors as low as 1% in the presence of strong coupling.

CD22 Regulates Adaptive and Innate Immune Responses of B Cells

B cells sense microenvironments through the B cell receptor (BCR) and Toll-like receptors (TLRs). While signals from BCR and TLRs synergize to distinguish self from nonself, inappropriate regulation can result in development of autoimmune disease. Here we show that CD22, an inhibitory co-receptor of BCR, also negatively regulates TLR signaling in B cells. CD22-deficient (Cd22–/–) B cells exhibit hyperactivation in response to ligands of TLRs 3, 4 and 9. Evidence suggests that this results from impaired induction of suppressors of cytokine signaling 1 and 3, well-known suppressors of TLR signaling. Antibody-mediated sequestration of CD22 on wild-type (WT) B cells augments proliferation by TLR ligands. Conversely, expression of CD22 in a Cd22–/– B cell line blunts responses to TLR ligands. We also show that lipopolysaccharide-induced transcription by nuclear factor-ĸB is inhibited by ectopic expression of CD22 in a TLR4 reporter cell line. Taken together, these results suggest that negative regulation of TLR signaling is an intrinsic property of CD22. Since TLRs and BCR activate B cells through different signaling pathways, and are differentially localized in B cells, CD22 exhibits a broader regulation of receptors that mediate adaptive and innate immune responses of B cells than previously recognized.

Computational and experimental prediction of human C-type lectin receptor druggability.

Mammalian C-type lectin receptors (CTLRS) are involved in many aspects of immune cell regulation such as pathogen recognition, clearance of apoptotic bodies, and lymphocyte homing. Despite a great interest in modulating CTLR recognition of carbohydrates, the number of specific molecular probes is limited. To this end, we predicted the druggability of a panel of 22 CTLRs using DoGSiteScorer. The computed druggability scores of most structures were low, characterizing this family as either challenging or even undruggable. To further explore these findings, we employed a fluorine-based nuclear magnetic resonance screening of fragment mixtures against DC-SIGN, a receptor of pharmacological interest. To our surprise, we found many fragment hits associated with the carbohydrate recognition site (hit rate = 13.5%). A surface plasmon resonance-based follow-up assay confirmed 18 of these fragments (47%) and equilibrium dissociation constants were determined. Encouraged by these findings we expanded our experimental druggability prediction to Langerin and MCL and found medium to high hit rates as well, being 15.7 and 10.0%, respectively. Our results highlight limitations of current in silico approaches to druggability assessment, in particular, with regard to carbohydrate-binding proteins. In sum, our data indicate that small molecule ligands for a larger panel of CTLRs can be developed.

Multivalent display of minimal Clostridium difficile glycan epitopes mimics antigenic properties of larger glycans

Synthetic cell-surface glycans are promising vaccine candidates against Clostridium difficile. The complexity of large, highly antigenic and immunogenic glycans is a synthetic challenge. Less complex antigens providing similar immune responses are desirable for vaccine development. Based on molecular-level glycan–antibody interaction analyses, we here demonstrate that the C. difficile surface polysaccharide-I (PS-I) can be resembled by multivalent display of minimal disaccharide epitopes on a synthetic scaffold that does not participate in binding. We show that antibody avidity as a measure of antigenicity increases by about five orders of magnitude when disaccharides are compared with constructs containing five disaccharides. The synthetic, pentavalent vaccine candidate containing a peptide T-cell epitope elicits weak but highly specific antibody responses to larger PS-I glycans in mice. This study highlights the potential of multivalently displaying small oligosaccharides to achieve antigenicity characteristic of larger glycans. The approach may result in more cost-efficient carbohydrate vaccines with reduced synthetic effort.