Facile Modulation of Antibody Fucosylation with Small Molecule Fucostatin Inhibitors and Cocrystal Structure with GDP-Mannose 4,6-Dehydratase.

The efficacy of therapeutic antibodies that induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity can be improved by reduced fucosylation. Consequently, fucosylation is a critical product attribute of monoclonal antibodies produced as protein therapeutics. Small molecule fucosylation inhibitors have also shown promise as potential therapeutics in animal models of tumors, arthritis, and sickle cell disease. Potent small molecule metabolic inhibitors of cellular protein fucosylation, 6,6,6-trifluorofucose per-O-acetate and 6,6,6-trifluorofucose (fucostatin I), were identified that reduces the fucosylation of recombinantly expressed antibodies in cell culture in a concentration-dependent fashion enabling the controlled modulation of protein fucosylation levels. 6,6,6-Trifluorofucose binds at an allosteric site of GDP-mannose 4,6-dehydratase (GMD) as revealed for the first time by the X-ray cocrystal structure of a bound allosteric GMD inhibitor. 6,6,6-Trifluorofucose was found to be incorporated in place of fucose at low levels (<1%) in the glycans of recombinantly expressed antibodies. A fucose-1-phosphonate analog, fucostatin II, was designed that inhibits fucosylation with no incorporation into antibody glycans, allowing the production of afucosylated antibodies in which the incorporation of non-native sugar is completely absent-a key advantage in the production of therapeutic antibodies, especially biosimilar antibodies. Inhibitor structure-activity relationships, identification of cellular and inhibitor metabolites in inhibitor-treated cells, fucose competition studies, and the production of recombinant antibodies with varying levels of fucosylation are described.

Transcriptome analysis of a CHO cell line expressing a recombinant therapeutic protein treated with inducers of protein expression.

The search for specific productivity (qP) determinants in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells has been the focus of the biopharmaceutical cell line engineering efforts aimed at creating "super-producer" cell lines. In this study, we evaluated the impact of small-molecule inducers and temperature shift on recombinant protein production, and used transcriptomic analysis to define gene-phenotype correlations for qP in our biological system. Next-generation RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis revealed that each individual inducer (caffeine, hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) and sodium butyrate (NaBu)) or a combination treatment had a distinct impact on the gene expression program of the RANK-Fc cell line. Temperature shift to 31 °C impacted inducer action with respect to transcriptional changes and phenotypic cell line parameters. We showed that inducer treatment was able to increase expression level of the Fc- fusion mRNA and the selectable marker mRNA from 16% up to 45% of total mRNA in the cell. We further demonstrated that qP exhibited a strong positive linear correlation to transcript levels of both the RANK-Fc fusion protein and the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) selectable marker. In fact, these were 2 out of 7 transcripts with significant positive correlation to qP at both temperatures. Many more transcripts were anti- correlated to qP, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that those were involved in cell cycle progression, transcription, mRNA processing, translation and protein folding. Therefore, we postulate that the transcript level of the recombinant protein is a major qP determinant in our biological system, while downregulation of routine activity within the cell is necessary to divert cellular resources towards recombinant protein production.

Monensin, a small molecule ionophore, can be used to increase high mannose levels on monoclonal antibodies generated by Chinese hamster ovary production cell-lines.

Asparagine-linked glycosylation of the constant region of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) plays an important role in their stability and efficacy and is a critical product quality attribute that needs to be consistent between various process changes and production lots. Exact product quality match is also of the utmost importance for the development of biosimilar protein therapeutics. This poses a process development challenge since mAb glycosylation profiles can fluctuate easily with changes in process parameters. Therefore, there is a need to identify methods to modulate glycosylation levels on therapeutic antibodies during a production run in order to maintain consistent product quality profiles between different drug lots. Here, we demonstrate the use of a small molecule ionophore, monensin, to increase high mannose levels on multiple therapeutic human immunoglobulins (IgGs) in both plate-based small scale production models as well as in production bioreactors. This method is simple to implement and readily applicable for multiple production cell lines. Moreover, high mannose levels can be increased without significant negative impact on titer or cell culture performance. As such, monensin gives us a manipulable product quality lever.

Asparagine-linked oligosaccharides present on a non-consensus amino acid sequence in the CH1 domain of human antibodies.

We report that N-linked oligosaccharide structures can be present on an asparagine residue not adhering to the consensus site motif NX(S/T), where X is not proline, described in the literature. We have observed oligosaccharides on a non-consensus asparaginyl residue in the C(H)1 constant domain of IgG1 and IgG2 antibodies. The initial findings were obtained from characterization of charge variant populations evident in a recombinant human antibody of the IgG2 subclass. HPLC-MS results indicated that cation-exchange chromatography acidic variant populations were enriched in antibody with a second glycosylation site, in addition to the well documented canonical glycosylation site located in the C(H)2 domain. Subsequent tryptic and chymotryptic peptide map data indicated that the second glycosylation site was associated with the amino acid sequence TVSWN(162)SGAL in the C(H)1 domain of the antibody. This highly atypical modification is present at levels of 0.5-2.0% on most of the recombinant antibodies that have been tested and has also been observed in IgG1 antibodies derived from human donors. Site-directed mutagenesis of the C(H)1 domain sequence in a recombinant-human IgG1 antibody resulted in an increase in non-consensus glycosylation to 3.15%, a greater than 4-fold increase over the level observed in the wild type, by changing the -1 and +1 amino acids relative to the asparagine residue at position 162. We believe that further understanding of the phenomenon of non-consensus glycosylation can be used to gain fundamental insights into the fidelity of the cellular glycosylation machinery.

Chaperone Hsp31 contributes to acid resistance in stationary-phase Escherichia coli.

Hsp31, the product of the sigmaS - and sigmaD -dependent hchA gene, is a heat-inducible chaperone implicated in the management of protein misfolding at high temperatures. We show here that Hsp31 plays an important role in the acid resistance of starved Escherichia coli but that it has little influence on oxidative-stress survival.

Detection of bacteria by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

The detection and identification of dilute bacterial samples by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy has been explored by mixing aqueous suspensions of bacteria with a suspension of nanocolloidal silver particles. An estimate of the detection limit of E. coli was obtained by varying the concentration of bacteria. By correcting the Raman spectra for the broad librational OH band of water, reproducible spectra were obtained for E. coli concentrations as low as approximately 10(3) cfu/mL. To aid in the assignment of Raman bands, spectra for E. coli in D(2)O are also reported.

Regulation of Escherichia coli hchA, a stress-inducible gene encoding molecular chaperone Hsp31.

Escherichia coli Hsp31 is a homodimeric member of the ThiI/DJ-1/PfpI superfamily that combines molecular chaperone and aminopeptidase activities. Although it was originally identified on the basis of its induction by heat shock, little is known about the regulation of hchA, the structural gene encoding Hsp31. Here, we show that hchA is transcribed from dual promoters recognized by the sigmaD (sigma70) and sigmaS (sigma38) subunits of RNA polymerase (E). In exponentially growing cells, the nucleoid-binding protein H-NS downregulates Hsp31 synthesis, and hchA thermal induction primarily relies on the relief of H-NS-mediated silencing of EsigmaD-dependent transcription. This uncommon alternative to the use of a heat-shock sigma factor guarantees that Hsp31 concentration remains high throughout the length of the high temperature exposure phase. Entry into stationary phase leads to enhanced hchA transcription from its EsigmaS-dependent promoter. Consistent with a role of Hsp31 in the management of starvation, hchA null mutants exhibit a decrease ability to survive in deep stationary phase relative to hchA+ cells. Based on hchA heat-inducibility and membership in the sigmaS general stress regulon, we propose that Hsp31 performs a protective function under a wide range of stress conditions.

Recombinant protein folding and misfolding in Escherichia coli.

The past 20 years have seen enormous progress in the understanding of the mechanisms used by the enteric bacterium Escherichia coli to promote protein folding, support protein translocation and handle protein misfolding. Insights from these studies have been exploited to tackle the problems of inclusion body formation, proteolytic degradation and disulfide bond generation that have long impeded the production of complex heterologous proteins in a properly folded and biologically active form. The application of this information to industrial processes, together with emerging strategies for creating designer folding modulators and performing glycosylation all but guarantee that E. coli will remain an important host for the production of both commodity and high value added proteins.

Escherichia coli Hsp31 functions as a holding chaperone that cooperates with the DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE system in the management of protein misfolding under severe stress conditions.

Escherichia coli Hsp31 is a homodimeric protein that exhibits chaperone activity in vitro and is a representative member of a recently recognized family of heat shock proteins (Hsps). To gain insights on Hsp31 cellular function, we deleted the hchA gene from the MC4100 chromosome and combined the resulting null allele with lesions in other cytoplasmic chaperones. Although the hchA mutant only exhibited growth defects when cultivated at 48 degrees C, loss of Hsp31 had a strong deleterious effect on the ability of cells to survive and recover from transient exposure to 50 degrees C, and led to the enhanced aggregation of a subset of host proteins at this temperature. The absence of Hsp31 did not significantly affect the ability of the ClpB-DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE system to clear thermally aggregated proteins at 30 degrees C suggesting that Hsp31 does not possess disaggregase activity. Although it had no effect on the growth of groES30, Delta clpB or Delta ibpAB cells at high temperatures, the hchA deletion aggravated the temperature sensitive phenotype of dnaK756 and grpE280 mutants and led to increased aggregation in stressed dnaK756 cells. On the basis of biochemical, structural and genetic data, we propose that Hsp31 acts as a modified holding chaperone that captures early unfolding intermediates under prolonged conditions of severe stress and releases them when cells return to physiological conditions. This additional line of defence would complement the roles of DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE, ClpB and IbpB in the management of thermally induced cellular protein misfolding.