title: Blockade of autoantibody-initiated tissue damage by using recombinant fab antibody fragments against pathogenic autoantigen.
abstract: Activation of the complement cascade via the classical pathway is required for the development of tissue injury in many autoantibody-mediated diseases. It therefore makes sense to block the pathological action of autoantibodies by preventing complement activation through inhibition of autoantibody binding to the corresponding pathogenic autoantigen using targeted Fab antibody fragments. To achieve this, we use bullous pemphigoid (BP) as an example of a typical autoimmune disease. Recombinant Fabs against the non-collagenous 16th-A domain of type XVII collagen, the main pathogenic epitope for autoantibodies in BP, were generated from antibody repertoires of BP patients by phage display. Two Fabs, Fab-B4 and Fab-19, showed marked ability to inhibit the binding of BP autoantibodies and subsequent complement activation in vitro. In the in vivo experiments using type XVII collagen humanized BP model mice, these Fabs protected mice against BP autoantibody-induced blistering disease. Thus, the blocking of pathogenic epitopes using engineered Fabs appears to demonstrate efficacy and may lead to disease-specific treatments for antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Sapporo, 060-8638 Japan.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ujiie
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shibaki
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nishie
authors.forename: Yasuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tateishi
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morioka
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sawamura
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D010391:Pemphigoid, Bullous / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D019151:Peptide Library; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D019151:Peptide Library; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins