Antibody treatment of human tumor xenografts elicits active anti-tumor immunity in nude mice.

Athymic nude mice bearing subcutaneous tumor xenografts of the human anti-colorectal cancer cell line SW480 were used as a preclinical model to explore anti-tumor immunotherapies. Intratumor or systemic treatment of the mice with murine anti-SW480 serum, recombinant anti-SW480 polyclonal antibodies, or the anti-colorectal cancer monoclonal antibody CO17-1A, caused retardation or regression of SW480 tumor xenografts. Interestingly, when mice that had regressed their tumors were re-challenged with SW480 cells, these mice regressed the new tumors without further antibody treatment. Adoptive transfer of spleen cells from mice that had regressed their tumors conferred anti-tumor immunity to naïve nude mice. Pilot experiments suggest that the transferred anti-tumor immunity is mediated by T cells of both gammadelta and alphabeta lineages. These results demonstrate that passive anti-tumor immunotherapy can elicit active immunity and support a role for extra-thymic gammadelta and alphabeta T cells in tumor rejection. Implications for potential immunotherapies include injection of tumor nodules in cancer patients with anti-tumor antibodies to induce anti-tumor T cell immunity.

Intrabody-based approaches to cancer therapy: status and prospects.

Continuing developments from the study of cancer at the molecular level are yielding increasing numbers of targets that may be used for therapeutic intervention. Advances in the field of antibody engineering over the past several decades have given scientists the capability of directing the highly specific interaction of antibodies with antigens inward, to the intracellular compartments of living cells. These intracellular antibodies, i.e., intrabodies, are being developed to bind to, neutralize, or modify the function or localization of cancer-related targets and thereby affect the malignant phenotype. This has resulted in a promising new tool for the study and treatment of cancer. Due to recent advances in the development of the antibody engineering technologies, increasing numbers of intrabodies are being exploited to a growing list of cancer-related, as well as other disease targets. There are still, however, many technical issues, particularly related to clinical applications of the intrabodies, that must be addressed before the full promise of this class of therapeutic agent is realized. This review will focus on the recent progress in the generation and use of intrabodies in the field of oncology. The technical issues associated with their further development will also be discussed.

Recombinant polyclonal antibodies for cancer therapy.

Although monoclonal antibodies are increasingly used for cancer therapy, remissions are only temporary due to emergence of tumor cell escape variants that are no longer affected by the antibody. The emergence of escape variants could be minimized by multi-targeting of tumor cells with polyclonal antibodies, which would also be more efficient than monoclonal antibodies at mediating effector functions for target destruction. A technology for generating recombinant polyclonal antibodies for cancer therapy has been developed based on the construction and selection of tumor-reactive Fab phage display libraries. The selected Fabs are mass-converted to full-length polyclonal antibody libraries (PCALs) of any isotype and any species. Prototypic PCALs generated against human colorectal cancer cell lines showed that libraries of diverse recombinant antibodies, enriched for reactivity to the cancer cells compared to normal human cells, can be obtained. The success of recombinant polyclonal antibodies as cancer therapeutics will depend on the ability to generate, characterize, and mass-produce PCALs with high ratios of cancer-to-normal reactivities that cross-react with many cancers of the same type.

Generation and preliminary characterization of an antibody library with preferential reactivity to human colorectal cancer cells as compared to normal human blood cells.

We are developing recombinant polyclonal antibody libraries (PCALs) reactive to human colorectal cancer cells as an anti-cancer therapeutic approach. To test the hypothesis that PCALs with preferential recognition of tumor cells as compared to normal cells could be generated, a Fab phage display library reactive to human colorectal cancer cell lines was absorbed with normal human blood cells. ELISA analysis of the absorbed Fab phage display library showed that 70% of tested clones reacted to colorectal cancer cells. Reactivity of the library to blood cells was reduced 4-10-fold, with many clones unreactive to one or more of the blood cell types. DNA fingerprint analysis of colorectal cancer-binding clones showed that the absorbed library remained polyclonal. The H and L chain V region gene pairs of the absorbed library were transferred in mass from the Fab phage display vector to a mammalian vector and expressed as IgG following transfection into Sp2/0 myeloma cells. ELISA analysis showed that 79% of transfectants expressed IgG and of those 74% were positive for binding to the SW480 human colorectal cancer cell line. A template of 95 SW480-reactive wells was assembled, designated Lib-Col2.1, and IgG purified from a consolidated mass culture. The purified Lib-Col2.1 IgG was compared to the clinically used anti-colorectal cancer mAb 17-1A, by ELISA and flow cytometry, for binding density on SW480 colorectal cancer cells and on normal human blood cells. The results showed that Lib-Col2.1 bound to SW480 cells at higher density than mAb 17-1A and that its binding to normal human blood cells was reduced 2.4-24-fold relative to an unabsorbed anti-SW480 serum. Furthermore, Lib-Col2.1 was more effective than mAb 17-1A at inhibiting the growth of SW480 cells in culture. These results suggest that a polyclonal antibody library with preferential reactivity to cancer cells as compared to normal cells could be generated.

Polyclonal Fab phage display libraries with a high percentage of diverse clones to Cryptosporidium parvum glycoproteins.

The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is regarded as a major public health problem world-wide, especially for immunocompromised individuals. Although no effective therapy is presently available, specific immune responses prevent or terminate cryptosporidiosis and passively administered antibodies have been found to reduce the severity of infection. Therefore, as an immunotherapeutic approach against cryptosporidiosis, we set out to develop C. parvum-specific polyclonal antibody libraries, standardised, perpetual mixtures of polyclonal antibodies, for which the genes are available. A combinatorial Fab phage display library was generated from the antibody variable region gene repertoire of mice immunised with C. parvum surface and apical complex glycoproteins which are believed to be involved in mediating C. parvum attachment and invasion. The variable region genes used to construct this starting library were shown to be diverse by nucleotide sequencing. The library was subjected to one round of antigen selection on C. parvum glycoproteins or a C. parvum oocyst/sporozoite preparation. The two selected libraries showed specific reactivity to the glycoproteins as well as to the oocyst/sporozoite preparation, with 50-73% antigen-reactive members. Fingerprint analysis of individual clones from the two antigen-selected libraries showed high diversity, confirming the polyclonality of the selected libraries. Furthermore, immunoblot analysis on the oocyst/sporozoite and glycoprotein preparations with selected library phage showed reactivity to multiple bands, indicating diversity at the antigen level. These C. parvum-specific polyclonal Fab phage display libraries will be converted to libraries of polyclonal full-length antibodies by mass transfer of the selected heavy and light chain variable region gene pairs to a mammalian expression vector. Such polyclonal antibody libraries would be expected to mediate effector functions and provide optimal passive immunity against cryptosporidiosis.

Generation of anti-colorectal cancer fab phage display libraries with a high percentage of diverse antigen-reactive clones.

A combinatorial Fab phage display library was generated from the antibody variable region genes of each of 2 BALB/c mice immunized with the human colorectal cancer cell lines SW480, SW948, and SW837. These libraries were shown to be diverse by nucleotide sequencing and diagnostic restriction enzyme digestion (fingerprinting) of individual members. The two libraries were combined and selected for binding to a suspension of formaldehyde-fixed human colorectal cancer cells in two successive rounds of selection and phage amplification by infection of bacteria. Analysis of the selected libraries as well as individual library clones by ELISA, showed binding to the cancer cell lines in both formaldehyde-fixed and native forms. Fifty five percent and 94% of library clones were positive for colorectal cancer cell binding after the first and second rounds of selection, respectively. Fingerprinting of individual clones showed the first round selected library to be very diverse and the second round selected library to be of more limited diversity. After absorption with normal human cell types, these anti-cancer selected libraries could be used to develop therapeutic and/or diagnostic agents.

Polyclonal anti-colorectal cancer Fab phage display library selected in one round using density gradient centrifugation to separate antigen-bound and free phage.

A combinatorial Fab phage display library generated from antibody variable (V) region genes of BALB/c mice immunized with the human colorectal cancer cell lines SW480, SW948, and SW837, was used to isolate an anti-colorectal cancer library. In an attempt to preserve as many anti-colorectal cancer specificities as possible, the original Fab phage display library was selected for binding to a suspension of the human colorectal cancer cells using density gradient centrifugation, instead of washes, to separate cell-bound and free phage. The method consists of placing the cell-phage mixture on a layer of fetal bovine serum (FBS) which had been overlaid on a "cushion" of percoll density medium in a soft, polyallomer tube. After centrifugation, free phage remain on top of the serum layer, whereas the colorectal cancer cells with bound phage are recovered from the serum-percoll interface with a syringe. Analysis of the selected phage display library by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and diagnostic restriction enzyme digests of individual members (fingerprinting), revealed about 90% anti-colorectal cancer diverse clones after only one round of selection. After conversion to a library of full-length antibodies, such an anti-cancer polyclonal library could be useful for therapeutic and/or diagnostic applications. The density gradient centrifugation method presented here holds great promise for the generation of polyclonal antibody libraries (PCALs) to complex antigens. It is also applicable for selection of peptide or other phage display libraries on any insoluble ligand.