Phage-derived fully human monoclonal antibody fragments to human vascular endothelial growth factor-C block its interaction with VEGF receptor-2 and 3.
Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) is a key mediator of lymphangiogenesis, acting via its receptors VEGF-R2 and VEGF-R3. High expression of VEGF-C in tumors correlates with increased lymphatic vessel density, lymphatic vessel invasion, sentinel lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. Recently, we found that in a chemically induced skin carcinoma model, increased VEGF-C drainage from the tumor enhanced lymphangiogenesis in the sentinel lymph node and facilitated metastatic spread of cancer cells via the lymphatics. Hence, interference with the VEGF-C/VEGF-R3 axis holds promise to block metastatic spread, as recently shown by use of a neutralizing anti-VEGF-R3 antibody and a soluble VEGF-R3 (VEGF-C/D trap). By antibody phage-display, we have developed a human monoclonal antibody fragment (single-chain Fragment variable, scFv) that binds with high specificity and affinity to the fully processed mature form of human VEGF-C. The scFv binds to an epitope on VEGF-C that is important for receptor binding, since binding of the scFv to VEGF-C dose-dependently inhibits the binding of VEGF-C to VEGF-R2 and VEGF-R3 as shown by BIAcore and ELISA analyses. Interestingly, the variable heavy domain (V(H)) of the anti-VEGF-C scFv, which contains a mutation typical for camelid heavy chain-only antibodies, is sufficient for binding VEGF-C. This reduced the size of the potentially VEGF-C-blocking antibody fragment to only 14.6 kDa. Anti-VEGF-C V(H)-based immunoproteins hold promise to block the lymphangiogenic activity of VEGF-C, which would present a significant advance in inhibiting lymphatic-based metastatic spread of certain cancer types.
Rinderknecht
Matthias
M
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Villa
Alessandra
A
Ballmer-Hofer
Kurt
K
Neri
Dario
D
Detmar
Michael
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000915:Antibody Affinity; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000276:immunology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D019151:Peptide Library; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000276:immunology; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D055550:Protein Stability; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D057127:Single-Chain Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D040321:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-3 / Q000378:metabolism*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D019151:Peptide Library; D057127:Single-Chain Antibodies; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2; D040321:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-3