Engineering an Anti-Transferrin Receptor ScFv for pH-Sensitive Binding Leads to Increased Intracellular Accumulation.

The equilibrium binding affinity of receptor-ligand or antibody-antigen pairs may be modulated by protonation of histidine side-chains, and such pH-dependent mechanisms play important roles in biological systems, affecting molecular uptake and trafficking. Here, we aimed to manipulate cellular transport of single-chain antibodies (scFvs) against the transferrin receptor (TfR) by engineering pH-dependent antigen binding. An anti-TfR scFv was subjected to histidine saturation mutagenesis of a single CDR. By employing yeast surface display with a pH-dependent screening pressure, scFvs having markedly increased dissociation from TfR at pH 5.5 were identified. The pH-sensitivity generally resulted from a central cluster of histidine residues in CDRH1. When soluble, pH-sensitive, scFv clone M16 was dosed onto live cells, the internalized fraction was 2.6-fold greater than scFvs that lacked pH-sensitive binding and the increase was dependent on endosomal acidification. Differences in the intracellular distribution of M16 were also observed consistent with an intracellular decoupling of the scFv M16-TfR complex. Engineered pH-sensitive TfR binding could prove important for increasing the effectiveness of TfR-targeted antibodies seeking to exploit endocytosis or transcytosis for drug delivery purposes.

Yeast Display-Based Antibody Affinity Maturation Using Detergent-Solubilized Cell Lysates.

It is often desired to identify or engineer antibodies that target membrane proteins (MPs). However, due to their inherent insolubility in aqueous solutions, MPs are often incompatible with in vitro antibody discovery and optimization platforms. Recently, we adapted yeast display technology to accommodate detergent-solubilized cell lysates as sources of MP antigens. The following protocol details the incorporation of cell lysates into a kinetic screen designed to obtain antibodies with improved affinity via slowed dissociation from an MP antigen.

An evolved Mxe GyrA intein for enhanced production of fusion proteins.

Expressing antibodies as fusions to the non-self-cleaving Mxe GyrA intein enables site-specific, carboxy-terminal chemical modification of the antibodies by expressed protein ligation (EPL). Bacterial antibody-intein fusion protein expression platforms typically yield insoluble inclusion bodies that require refolding to obtain active antibody-intein fusion proteins. Previously, we demonstrated that it was possible to employ yeast surface display to express properly folded single-chain antibody (scFv)-intein fusions, therefore permitting the direct small-scale chemical functionalization of scFvs. Here, directed evolution of the Mxe GyrA intein was performed to improve both the display and secretion levels of scFv-intein fusion proteins from yeast. The engineered intein was shown to increase the yeast display levels of eight different scFvs by up to 3-fold. Additionally, scFv- and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-intein fusion proteins can be secreted from yeast, and while fusion of the scFvs to the wild-type intein resulted in low expression levels, the engineered intein increased scFv-intein production levels by up to 30-fold. The secreted scFv- and GFP-intein fusion proteins retained their respective binding and fluorescent activities, and upon intein release, EPL resulted in carboxy-terminal azide functionalization of the target proteins. The azide-functionalized scFvs and GFP were subsequently employed in a copper-free, strain-promoted click reaction to site-specifically immobilize the proteins on surfaces, and it was demonstrated that the functionalized, immobilized scFvs retained their antigen binding specificity. Taken together, the evolved yeast intein platform provides a robust alternative to bacterial intein expression systems.

Cells and cell lysates: a direct approach for engineering antibodies against membrane proteins using yeast surface display.

Membrane proteins (MPs) are often desirable targets for antibody engineering. However, the majority of antibody engineering platforms depend implicitly on aqueous solubility of the target antigen which is often problematic for MPs. Recombinant, soluble forms of MPs have been successfully employed as antigen sources for antibody engineering, but heterologous expression and purification of soluble MP fragments remains a challenging and time-consuming process. Here we present a more direct approach to aid in the engineering of antibodies to MPs. By combining yeast surface display technology directly with whole cells or detergent-solubilized whole-cell lysates, antibody libraries can be screened against MP antigens in their near-native conformations. We also describe how the platform can be adapted for antibody characterization and antigen identification. This collection of compatible methods serves as a basis for antibody engineering against MPs and it is predicted that these methods will mature in parallel with developments in membrane protein biochemistry and solubilization technology.

Antibody affinity maturation using yeast display with detergent-solubilized membrane proteins as antigen sources.

Antigen preparations in the form of detergent-solubilized cell lysates could, in principle, render membrane proteins (MPs) compatible with in vitro antibody engineering technologies. To this end, detergent-solubilized cell lysates were coupled with the yeast surface display platform to affinity mature an anti-transferrin receptor (TfR) single-chain antibody (scFv). Lysates were generated from TfR-expressing HEK293 cells by solubilization with detergent-containing buffer after undergoing plasma membrane-restricted biotinylation. Lysate-resident TfR was then combined with a mutagenic anti-TfR scFv library in a competitive, dissociation rate screen, and scFvs were identified with up to 4-fold improved dissociation rates on the surface of yeast. Importantly, although the lysates contained a complex mixture of biotinylated proteins, the engineered scFvs retained their TfR binding specificity. When secreted by yeast as soluble proteins, mutant scFvs bound to cell surface TfR with 3-7-fold improvements in equilibrium binding affinity. Although a known MP antigen was targeted for purposes of this study, employing biotin tagging as a means of antigen detection makes the lysate-based approach particularly flexible. We have previously shown that yeast display can be used to identify lead antibodies using cell lysate-resident MP antigens, and combined with this work showing that antibodies can also be quantitatively engineered using cell lysates, these approaches may provide a high-throughput platform for generation and optimization of antibodies against MPs.