Gabriele Proetzel

Humanized FcRn mouse models for evaluating pharmacokinetics of human IgG antibodies

A key element for the successful development of novel therapeutic antibodies is to fully understand their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior before performing clinical trials. While many in vitro modeling approaches exist, these simply cannot substitute for data obtained from appropriate animal models. It was established quite early that the unusual long serum half-life of immunoglobulin Gs (IgGs) and Fc domains are due to their rescue and recycling by the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). The diverse roles of FcRn became apparent after isolation and cloning. Interesting are the significant species differences between rodent and human FcRn reactivity, rendering wild type rodents an inadequate model for studying IgG serum half-life. With the advance of genetic engineering mouse models have been established expressing human FcRn, and lacking mouse FcRn protein. These models have become highly relevant tools for serum half-life analysis of Fc-containing compounds.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against human FcRn and their applications

The MHC class I-like Fc receptor (FcRn) is an intracellular trafficking Fc receptor that is uniquely responsible for the extended serum half-life of antibodies of the IgG subclass and their ability to transport across cellular barriers. By performing these functions, FcRn affects numerous facets of antibody biology and pathobiology. Its critical role in controlling IgG pharmacokinetics has been leveraged for the design of therapeutic antibodies and related biologics. FcRn also traffics serum albumin and is responsible for the enhanced pharmacokinetic properties of albumin-conjugated therapeutics. The understanding of FcRn and its therapeutic applications has been limited by a paucity of reliable serological reagents against human FcRn. Here, we describe the properties of a new panel of highly specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against human FcRn with diverse epitope specificities. We show that this antibody panel can be used to study the tissue expression pattern of human FcRn, to selectively block IgG and serum albumin binding to human FcRn in vitro and to inhibit FcRn function in vivo. This mAb panel provides a powerful resource for probing the biology of human FcRn and for the evaluation of therapeutic FcRn blockade strategies.

Clinical chemistry of human FcRn transgenic mice

Mice genetically engineered to express human FcRn are valuable models for the evaluation of therapeutic antibodies in the context of human FcRn in vivo. However, only limited clinical chemistry information on these mouse strains is available. Thus, we have compared 30 clinical chemical parameters of C57BL/6J wild-type mice, murine FcRn-knockout mice, and two human FcRn transgenic mouse strains expressing human FcRn in the absence of murine FcRn. Since FcRn-mediated recycling prevents albumin and IgG from intracellular degradation, significant differences for both proteins were observed in the murine FcRn-knockout mice. Mice lacking FcRn show lower IgG and albumin levels compared to wild-type mice. The most prominent differences in clinical chemical parameters can be explained by secondary effects of the altered albumin levels of murine FcRn-knockout mice on liver metabolism, as similar tendencies have been observed in analbuminemic Nagase rats and hypoalbuminemic human patients, showing an overall increased liver metabolism. Both human FcRn transgenic strains show clinical chemical parameters similar to those found for wild-type mice, with the exception of endogenous IgG levels, which are greatly reduced in these mice.

Albumin-deficient mouse models for studying metabolism of human albumin and pharmacokinetics of albumin-based drugs.

Serum albumin is the major determinant of blood colloidal osmotic pressure acting as a depot and distributor of compounds including drugs. In humans, serum albumin exhibits an unusually long half-life mainly due to protection from catabolism by neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn)-mediated recycling. These properties make albumin an attractive courier of therapeutically-active compounds. However, pharmaceutical research and development of albumin-based therapeutics has been hampered by the lack of appropriate preclinical animal models. To overcome this, we developed and describe the first mouse with a genetic deficiency in albumin and its incorporation into an existing humanized FcRn mouse model, B6.Cg-Fcgrttm1Dcr Tg(FCGRT)32Dcr/DcrJ (Tg32). Albumin-deficient strains (Alb-/-) were created by TALEN-mediated disruption of the albumin (Alb) gene directly in fertilized oocytes derived from Tg32 mice and its non-transgenic background control, C57BL/6J (B6). The resulting Alb-/- strains are analbuminemic but healthy. Intravenous administration of human albumin to Tg32-Alb-/- mFcRn-/- hFcRnTg/Tg) mice results in a remarkably extended human albumin serum half-life of ∼24 days, comparable to that found in humans, and in contrast to half-lives of 2.6–5.8 d observed in B6, B6-Alb-/- and Tg32 strains. This striking increase can be explained by the absence of competing endogenous mouse albumin and the presence of an active human FcRn. These novel albumin-deficient models provide unique tools for investigating the biology and pathobiology of serum albumin and are a more appropriate rodent surrogates for evaluating human serum albumin pharmacokinetics and albumin-based compounds.

Genetically Engineered Humanized Mouse Models for Preclinical Antibody Studies

The use of genetic engineering has vastly improved our capabilities to create animal models relevant in preclinical research. With the recent advances in gene-editing technologies, it is now possible to very rapidly create highly tunable mouse models as needs arise. Here, we provide an overview of genetic engineering methods, as well as the development of humanized neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) models and their use for monoclonal antibody in vivo studies.

Mouse Models for Drug Discovery

There is growing concern about the poor quality and lack of repeatability of many pre-clinical experiments involving laboratory animals. According to one estimate as much as

Antigen presentation for the generation of binding molecules.

28 billion is wasted annually in the USA alone in such studies. A decade ago the FDA’s “Critical path” white paper noted that “The traditional tools used to assess product safety—animal toxicology and outcomes from human studies—have changed little over many decades and have largely not benefited from recent gains in scientific knowledge. The inability to better assess and predict product safety leads to failures during clinical development and, occasionally, after marketing.” Repeat-dose 28-days and 90-days toxicity tests in rodents have been widely used as part of a strategy to assess the safety of drugs and chemicals but their repeatability and power to detect adverse effects have not been formally evaluated. The guidelines (OECD TG 407 and 408) for these tests specify the dose levels and number of animals per dose but do not specify the strain of animals which should be used. In practice, almost all the tests are done using genetically undefi ned “albino” rats or mice in which the genetic variation, a major cause of inter-individual and strain variability, is unknown and uncontrolled. This chapter suggests that a better strategy would be to use small numbers of animals of several genetically defi ned strains of mice or rats instead of the undefi ned animals used at present. Inbred strains are more stable providing more repeatable data than outbred stocks. Importantly their greater phenotypic uniformity should lead to more powerful and repeatable tests. Any observed strain differences would indicate genetic variation in response to the test substance, providing key data. We suggest that the FDA and other regulators and funding organizations should support research to evaluate this alternative.

Hematopoietic cells as site of first-pass catabolism after subcutaneous dosing and contributors to systemic clearance of a monoclonal antibody in mice

In the last few decades, several new methods have been established to isolate full antibodies and fragments thereof, some even using alternative scaffolds from in vivo and in vitro sources. These methods encompass robust techniques including immunization and hybridoma technology or phage display and also more laborious and novel approaches including ribosome display or B-cell immortalization. All methodologies are dependent upon proper antigen presentation for isolation, screening, and further characterization of the selected binding molecules. Here, antigens are classes of molecules including soluble or membrane proteins, part or domains thereof (extracellular domains of GPCRs), peptides, carbohydrates, and small-molecular-weight moieties. Presentation of the antigen in a functional state or perhaps even mimicking the intended application is crucial for successful isolation of useful binding molecules. Moreover, it is also necessary to consider the expression host and any posttranslational modifications of target proteins. The increasing demand to target more complex antigens, for instance, receptors and ion channels, is leading to the development of alternative procedures to present these proteins appropriately, for example by the use of virus-like particles and DNA immunization. This chapter describes in general approaches for the preparation of different forms of immunogens including synthetic peptides, proteins, cell-based antigens for immunization and in vitro display systems and in detail the preparation of a soluble protein as antigen.

Targeted disruption of the mouse transforming growth factor-β1 gene results in multifocal inflammatory disease

ABSTRACT The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) has been demonstrated to contribute to a high bioavailability of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). In this study, we explored the cellular sites of FcRn-mediated protection after subcutaneous (SC) and intravenous (IV) administration. SC absorption and IV disposition kinetics of a mAb were studied in hFcRn transgenic (Tg) bone marrow chimeric mice in which hFcRn was restricted to radioresistant cells or hematopoietic cells. SC bioavailabilities close to 90% were observed in hFcRn Tg mice and chimeric mice with hFcRn expression in hematopoietic cells, whereas SC bioavailabilities were markedly lower when FcRn was missing in hematopoietic cells. Our study demonstrates: 1) FcRn in radiosensitive hematopoietic cells is required for high SC bioavailability, indicating first-pass catabolism after SC administration by hematopoietic cells; 2) FcRn-mediated transcytosis or recycling by radioresistent cells is not required for high SC bioavailability; and 3) after IV administration hematopoietic and radioresistent cells contribute about equally to clearance of the mAb. A pharmacokinetic model was devised to describe a mixed elimination via radioresistent and hematopoietic cells from vascular and extravascular compartments, respectively. Overall, the study indicates a relevant role of hematopoietic cells for first-pass clearance of mAbs after SC administration and confirms their role in the overall clearance of mAbs.