Vladimir I. Razinkov

Acid-induced aggregation of human monoclonal IgG1 and IgG2: molecular mechanism and the effect of solution composition.

The prevention of aggregation in therapeutic antibodies is of great importance to the biopharmaceutical industry. In our investigation, acid-induced aggregation of monoclonal IgG1 and IgG2 antibodies was studied at pH 3.5 as a function of salt concentration and buffer type. The extent of aggregation was estimated using a native cation-exchange chromatography (CEX) method based on the loss of soluble monomer. This approach allowed quantitative analysis of antibody aggregation kinetics for individual and mixed protein solutions. Information regarding the aggregation mechanism was gained by assessing stabilities of intact antibodies relative to their Fc and Fab fragments. The role of protein thermodynamic stability in aggregation was deduced from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The rate of aggregation under conditions mimicking the viral inactivation step during monoclonal antibody (mAb) processing was found to be strongly dependent on the antibody subclass (IgG1 vs IgG2). At 25 °C, IgG1s were resistant to low pH aggregation, but IgG2s aggregated readily in the presence of salt. The observed distinction between IgG1 and IgG2 aggregation resulted from differential stability of the corresponding C(H)2 domains. This was further confirmed by experimenting with an IgG1 molecule containing an aglycosylated C(H)2 domain. Interestingly, comparative analysis of two buffer systems (based on acetic acid vs citric acid) revealed differences in mAb aggregation under identical pH conditions. Evidence is provided for the importance of the total acid concentration for antibody aggregation at low pH. The effects of C(H)2 instability and solution composition on aggregation are significant and deserve careful consideration during the development of mAb- or Fc-based therapeutics.

Hemifusion between Cells Expressing Hemagglutinin of Influenza Virus and Planar Membranes Can Precede the Formation of Fusion Pores that Subsequently Fully Enlarge

The chronological relation between the establishment of lipid continuity and fusion pore formation has been investigated for fusion of cells expressing hemagglutinin (HA) of influenza virus to planar bilayer membranes. Self-quenching concentrations of lipid dye were placed in the planar membrane to monitor lipid mixing, and time-resolved admittance measurements were used to measure fusion pores. For rhodamine-PE, fusion pores always occurred before a detectable amount of dye moved into an HA-expressing cell. However, with DiI in the planar membrane, the relationship was reversed: the spread of dye preceded formation of small pores. In other words, by using DiI as probe, hemifusion was clearly observed to occur before pore formation. For hemifused cells, a small pore could form and subsequently fully enlarge. In contrast, for cells that express a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored ectodomain of HA, hemifusion occurred, but no fully enlarged pores were observed. Therefore, the transmembrane domain of HA is required for the formation of fully enlarging pores. Thus, with the planar bilayer membranes as target, hemifusion can precede pore formation, and the occurrence of lipid dye spread does not preclude formation of pores that can enlarge fully.

Effects of Membrane Potential and Sphingolipid Structures on Fusion of Semliki Forest Virus

ABSTRACT Cells expressing the E1 and E2 envelope proteins of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) were fused to voltage-clamped planar lipid bilayer membranes at low pH. Formation and evolution of fusion pores were electrically monitored by capacitance measurements, and membrane continuity was tracked by video fluorescence microscopy by including rhodamine-phosphatidylethanolamine in the bilayer. Fusion occurred without leakage for a negative potential applied to the trans side of the planar membrane. When a positive potential was applied, leakage was severe, obscuring the observation of any fusion. E1-mediated cell-cell fusion occurred without leakage for negative intracellular potentials but with substantial leakage for zero membrane potential. Thus, negative membrane potentials are generally required for nonleaky fusion. With planar bilayers as the target, the first fusion pore that formed almost always enlarged; pore flickering was a rare event. Similar to other target membranes, fusion required cholesterol and sphingolipids in the planar membrane. Sphingosine did not support fusion, but both ceramide, with even a minimal acyl chain (C2-ceramide), and lysosphingomyelin (lyso-SM) promoted fusion with the same kinetics. Thus, unrelated modifications to different parts of sphingosine yielded sphingolipids that supported fusion to the same degree. Fusion studies of pyrene-labeled SFV with cholesterol-containing liposomes showed that C2-ceramide supported fusion while lyso-SM did not, apparently due to its positive curvature effects. A model is proposed in which the hydroxyls of C-1 and C-3 as well as N of C-2 of the sphingosine backbone must orient so as to form multiple hydrogen bonds to amino acids of SFV E1 for fusion to proceed.

Specific Inhibition of Human Cytomegalovirus Glycoprotein B-Mediated Fusion by a Novel Thiourea Small Molecule

ABSTRACT A novel small molecule inhibitor of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) was identified as the result of screening a chemical library by using a whole-virus infected-cell assay. Synthetic chemistry efforts yielded the analog designated CFI02, a compound whose potency had been increased about 100-fold over an initial inhibitor. The inhibitory concentration of CFI02 in various assays is in the low nanomolar range. CFI02 is a selective and potent inhibitor of HCMV; it has no activity against other CMVs, alphaherpesviruses, or unrelated viruses. Mechanism-of-action studies indicate that CFI02 acts very early in the replication cycle, inhibiting virion envelope fusion with the cell plasma membrane. Mutants resistant to CFI02 have mutations in the abundant virion envelope glycoprotein B that are sufficient to confer resistance. Taken together, the data suggest that CFI02 inhibits glycoprotein B-mediated HCMV virion fusion. Furthermore, CFI02 inhibits the cell-cell spread of HCMV. This is the first study of a potent and selective small molecule inhibitor of CMV fusion and cell-cell spread.

Saccharide-assisted delivery of cytotoxic liposomes to human malignant cells

The overexpression of lectins by malignant cells was applied for in vitro targeting of liposomes equipped with a saccharide vector and loaded in the lipid phase with a lipid derivative of anticancer agent sarcotysine. The lectin specificity of human leukemia HL‐60 and human lung adenocarcinoma ACL cells was revealed by tests with fluorescein‐labeled sugar probes. With the help of fluorescent lipid dye it was shown that active saccharide ligands increased the level of the vectored liposome binding to malignant cells by 50‐80% as compared to liposomes without vector or with inactive one. The degree of liposome/cell membrane fusion was monitored fluorometrically and was shown to be complete and independent of the vectors. The targeted drug‐loaded liposomes had the cytotoxic activity 2‐4 times higher as compared to the vector‐free ones.

New fluorescent lysolipids: Preparation and selective labeling of inner liposome leaflet

Two new fluorescent lysophosphatidylcholine probes have been synthesized for use as a donor-acceptor pair in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET): 9-anthrylvinyl (LAPC) as donor and 3-perylenoyl (LPPC) as acceptor. The partition coefficients between membrane and aqueous phases were 8.3 x 10(5) and 10.5 x 10(5) for LAPC and LPPC, respectively. The inner leaflets of unilamellar lipid vesicles were labeled with these probes to assess conservation of membrane sidedness after membrane fusion. After medium-sized unilamellar vesicles (MUV) were prepared with a probe in both leaflets, probe in the outer leaflet was removed by repeatedly washing with an excess of unlabeled giant unilamellar vesicles (GUV). MUV and GUV were separated by centrifugation. The probes did not flip-flop across bilayers at 25 degrees C for at least 12 h. MUV containing the ganglioside GT1b were labeled with the LAPC/LPPC pair in the inner leaflet and incubated for 30 min at neutral pH with influenza virus. Fusion was triggered by acidification to pH 5.0 and was monitored by an increase in donor fluorescence in a FRET assay. When the inner leaflets of MUV were labeled by LAPC only, its fluorescence did not change after fusion. However, the fluorescence decreased by 60% when the LAPC was removed from the outer leaflets of the fused membranes by repeated washings with GUV. We conclude that the lipids of the inner and outer leaflets of the fused MUV/virus complexes intermixed.