Taking the Hinge off: An Approach to Effector-Less Monoclonal Antibodies.

A variety of Fc domain engineering approaches for abrogating the effector functions of mAbs exists. To address some of the limitations of the current Fc domain silencing approaches, we are exploring a less commonly considered option which relies on the deletion of the hinge. Removal of the hinge domain in humanized IgG1 and IgG4 mAbs obliterates their ability to bind to activating human Fc gamma receptors I and IIIA, while leaving their ability to engage their target antigen intact. Deletion of the hinge also reduces binding to the Fc neonatal receptor, although Fc engineering allows partial recovery of affinity. Engineering of the CH3 domain, stabilizes hinge deleted IgG4s and prevents Fab arm exchange. The faster clearing properties together with the pacified Fc make modality of the hinge deleted mAb an appealing solution for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Protein switch engineering by domain insertion.

The switch-like regulation of protein activity by molecular signals is abundant in native proteins. The ability to engineer proteins with novel regulation has applications in biosensors, selective protein therapeutics, and basic research. One approach to building proteins with novel switch properties is creating combinatorial libraries of gene fusions between genes encoding proteins that have the prerequisite input and output functions of the desired switch. These libraries are then subjected to selections and/or screens to identify those rare gene fusions that encode functional switches. Combinatorial libraries in which an insert gene is inserted randomly into an acceptor gene have been useful for creating switches, particularly when combined with circular permutation of the insert gene. Methods for creating random domain insertion libraries are described. Three methods for creating a diverse set of insertion sites in the acceptor gene are presented and compared: DNase I digestion, S1 nuclease digestion, and multiplex inverse PCR. A PCR-based method for creating a library of circular permutations of the insert gene is also presented.

Circular permutation in the Ω-loop of TEM-1 ß-lactamase results in improved activity and altered substrate specificity.

Generating diverse protein libraries that contain improved variants at a sufficiently high frequency is critical for improving the properties of proteins using directed evolution. Many studies have illustrated how random mutagenesis, cassette mutagenesis, DNA shuffling and similar approaches are effective diversity generating methods for directed evolution. Very few studies have explored random circular permutation, the intramolecular relocation of the N- and C-termini of a protein, as a diversity-generating step for directed evolution. We subjected a library of random circular permutations of TEM-1 ß-lactamase to selections on increasing concentrations of a variety of ß-lactam antibiotics including cefotaxime. We identified two circularly permuted variants that conferred elevated resistance to cefotaxime but decreased resistance to other antibiotics. These variants were circularly permuted in the Ω-loop proximal to the active site. Remarkably, one variant was circularly permuted such that the key catalytic residue Glu166 was located at the N-terminus of the mature protein.

A hot-spot motif characterizes the interface between a designed ankyrin-repeat protein and its target ligand.

Nonantibody scaffolds such as designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) can be rapidly engineered to detect diverse target proteins with high specificity and offer an attractive alternative to antibodies. Using molecular simulations, we predicted that the binding interface between DARPin off7 and its ligand (maltose binding protein; MBP) is characterized by a hot-spot motif in which binding energy is largely concentrated on a few amino acids. To experimentally test this prediction, we fused MBP to a transmembrane domain to properly orient the protein into a polymer-cushioned lipid bilayer, and characterized its interaction with off7 using force spectroscopy. Using this, to our knowledge, novel technique along with surface plasmon resonance, we validated the simulation predictions and characterized the effects of select mutations on the kinetics of the off7-MBP interaction. Our integrated approach offers scientific insights on how the engineered protein interacts with the target molecule.

Surface-tethered protein switches.

Protein switches are engineered fusion proteins with an input domain that recognizes and responds to an input signal and an output domain whose function is regulated by the state of the input domain. Here we demonstrate a fully functional surface tethered protein switch that offers a potential route to a universal biosensing platform.