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IIb
3-Binding Fragments Derived from Immunized Donors Using Phage Display1




*
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5533, Hopital Cardiologique, Pessac, France;
German Cancer Research Center, Recombinant Ab Group, Heidelberg, Germany; and
Department of Cardiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| Abstract |
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IIb
3 integrin. However, little is known
about the molecular diversity of the humoral immune response to
IIb
3 due to the paucity of mAbs issuing
from these pathologies. We have isolated human IgG
anti-
IIb
3 binding fragments using
combinatorial libraries of single-chain IgG created from the B cells of
a GT and an AITP patient, both with serum Abs. Ab screening was
performed using activated platelets or activated
IIb
3-expressing Chinese hamster ovary
cells. Sequencing of selected phage Abs showed that a broad selection
of genes from virtually all V gene families had
been used, indicating the diversity of the immune response. About
one-half of the VH and
VL segments of our IgG
anti-
IIb
3 fragments displayed
extensive hypermutations in the complementarity-determining region,
supporting the idea that an Ag-driven immune response was occurring in
both patients. The H chain complementarity-determining region 3
analysis of phage Abs revealed motifs other than the well-known RGD and
KQAGDV integrin-binding sequences. To our knowledge, our study is the
first to illustrate multiple human IgG
anti-
IIb
3 reactivities and structural
variations linked to the anti-platelet human immune response. Human
IIb
3 Abs preferentially directed against
the activated form of the integrin were further characterized because
platelet
IIb
3 inhibitors are potential
therapeutic reagents for treating acute coronary syndromes. Currently
available
IIb
3 antagonists do not
specifically recognize the activated form of the
integrin. | Introduction |
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3 subclass of integrin receptors
(
IIb
3). It mediates
platelet aggregation by binding multivalent adhesive proteins, which
then form bridges linking adjacent platelets (1).
Anti-
IIb
3 serum Abs
have been detected in a majority of patients with either the chronic or
acute forms of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura
(AITP)5 and in
patients with Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT), the inherited disorder of
IIb
3, after receiving
blood transfusions to stop bleeding (2, 3, 4). Although
IIb
3 acts as an Ag in
these pathologies, relatively little is known about the structural and
genetic features, V gene usage, and degree of somatic
mutation of the
anti-
IIb
3 Abs.
Efforts to study the genetic structure of the disease-relevant mAbs
have been impeded in part by the difficulty of obtaining monoclonal IgG
human anti-
IIb
3
Abs from patients by conventional cell immortalization methods. Thus,
in a rare report, Olee et al. (5) described a monoclonal
IgG anti-
IIb
3
generated after EBV transformation of secreting B cells from an AITP
patient. The production of human mAbs has been more recently addressed
by genetic engineering (6). Ishida et al. (7)
isolated, by phage display, an Ab specific for
IIb
3 from the B cells
of a polytransfused GT patient. Recombinant Abs against the human
platelet alloantigen-1a determinant carried by
3 have been produced from patients with
post-transfusion purpura or neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia
(8, 9, 10).
We have adapted current technology to produce recombinant Abs using, as
starting material, combinatorial libraries from B cells of a
polytransfused patient with GT and another with AITP, both patients
possessing serum IgG Abs against
IIb
3 (4, 11). Combinatorial libraries from immune donors have been often
used to determine the nature of the humoral immune response, for
example, in patients with autoimmune or neoplastic diseases or with
viral infection (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). Nucleotide sequences of variable
regions of such Abs may help us to understand the origin of the
secreting B cells. Natural autoantibodies are present in the sera of
all individuals, and early studies gave support to the idea that they
are mostly encoded by germline genes (20, 21, 22). In
contrast, autoantibodies encountered in pathology display, in most
instances, somatic mutations, as they will have been affinity matured
by the immune system (23, 24). Knowledge of the genetic
status of
anti-
IIb
3 Abs in
terms of the number of accumulated mutations could help advance our
understanding of the pathogenesis of Ab development. Moreover,
questions have been raised concerning the oligo or polyclonal nature of
the immunological response developed in GT patients after transfusion
or during AITP. Up to now, rarely more than one mAb has been obtained
from the B cells of immunized
anti-
IIb
3
developing donors, and Ishida et al. (7) demonstrated a
restricted usage of the VH4 gene
family. The variable gene family usage and structure of the H chain
complementarity-determining region 3 (HCDR3) motifs of the
anti-
IIb
3 Abs
obtained from our patients is now reported. Our results confirm the
molecular diversity of the immunological response in hematological
disorders.
The
IIb
3 integrin is
creating interest because of the role of platelets in acute coronary
syndromes (25, 26). In this context,
IIb
3 antagonists
represent a new class of antithrombotic drugs that block the common end
point of the platelet activation pathways that lead to aggregation.
Agents that have been approved for clinical use, including a chimeric
anti-
IIb
3 Fab
(c7E3) and synthetic peptide and nonpeptide antagonists modeled on the
RGD motif (27), bind to the nonactivated form of the
integrin and some may stimulate a transition of
IIb
3 from a resting
to a ligand competent state (28). These properties have
been implicated in the thrombocytopenia occasionally reported after
administration of such antagonists in man (29, 30). Thus,
activation-dependent human mAbs would be interesting to develop for
therapeutic use. Therefore, our study was expanded to screen for phages
recognizing active sites on
IIb
3. These were
selected using activated platelets and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)
cells expressing
IIb
3
locked in a high affinity state (28). Our findings show
that patients who have developed an immune response to this integrin
may, in fact, have the potential to generate Abs against a whole range
of epitopes on
IIb
3.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Patient 1 was an elderly man whose life-long history of bleeding
and abnormal platelet function tests were consistent with a clinical
diagnosis of GT (4). His platelets were severely deficient
in
IIb
3 and
fibrinogen, findings typical of type I disease (31). He
was transfused on several occasions to arrest bleeding episodes.
Preliminary characterization showed that his serum contained a
high-titer Ab that reacted with
3 in Western
blotting performed against normal platelet proteins. Studies were
performed after informed consent and according to the declaration of
Helsinki, Finland. Blood cells were used in this study; the resulting
phage display library was named EB.
Patient 2 was a 54-year-old man who was diagnosed with autoimmune
Hashimodo thyroiditis some 20 years ago. The symptoms abated with
medication (levothyrox, 200 µg/day). In 1993, he was found to have
excessive bruising and mucosal bleeding in his mouth. Testing for serum
anti-platelet Abs (IgM and IgG) by flow cytometry was positive
(11). mAb-specific immobilization of platelet Ag
testing (3) for
anti-
IIb
3 was
also positive, and he was diagnosed as having chronic AITP. He was
treated with i.v. Igs (30 g/day). His platelet count rose to 55 x
103/µl. He underwent splenectomy in 1996, but
his platelet count remained low. Cells used in the present study were
obtained from the spleen. Studies were performed after informed consent
and according to the declaration of Helsinki, Finland. The resulting
phage display library was named TE.
RNA isolation and creation of combinatorial scFv libraries
PBL from patient EB and spleen tissue from patient TE were
obtained as a source of mRNA for the generation of IgG libraries
constructed largely according to published protocols (32, 33). Briefly, mRNA was extracted using Dynabeads
oligo(dT)25 (Dynal Biotech, Compiegne, France)
from total RNA purified with Trizol LS Reagent (Life Technologies,
Cergy Pontoise, France) from
5 x 107
cells. To generate first-strand cDNA, three C-region
primers, kindly provided by Dr. D. Nugent (Orange County, CA), specific
for anti-sense sequences of the C
1, C
,
and C
genes were used to amplify Ig-specific mRNA
(7). The V domains of the
-,
-, and
-chains were amplified by RT-PCR using primers
previously described by us (33) and Klentaq polymerase
(Sigma-Aldrich, St. Quentin, France). Reactions were conducted using a
Gene-Amp 9600 PCR system (PerkinElmer, Foster City, CA) and a
denaturing cycle of 3 min at 95°C, 30 cycles of 30 s at 95°C,
and 3 min at 68°C, completed with a final cycle of 5 min at 68°C.
For cloning into pSEX81, the VH and
VL genes were reamplified with homologous
primers containing restriction endonuclease sites NcoI (5')
and HindIII (3') for VH and
MluI (5') and NotI (3') for
VL using, after a denaturing cycle, 15 cycles of
30 s at 95°C, 1 min at 57°C, and 1 min at 75°C, completed
with 5 min at 75°C. The amplified products were purified on a 1.5%
agarose gel. Bands of 400 bp were excised from the gel, and DNA was
extracted and purified with the QIAquick gel extraction kit (Qiagen,
Courtaboeuf, France).
Purified PCR products were double digested with
MluI/NotI and NcoI/HindIII
(Roche, Meylan, France) for the cloning of the L and
H chains into pSEX81. After purification with Qiaquick PCR
purification kit (Qiagen), the L chain genes were ligated in
the pSEX81 phage display vector. L chain repertoires were
then electroporated into Escherichia coli electrocompetent
XL-1 blue cells (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA) using a Gene Pulser
(Bio-Rad, Ivry sur Seine, France). The
- and
L chain sublibraries were prepared by Qiaquick plasmid
extraction (Qiagen). The combinatorial phagemids were constructed by
ligating H chain genes with
- and
L chain
sublibraries. The final constructs were electroporated in E.
coli XL-1 blue. The transformed bacteria were stored at -80°C.
Phage libraries displaying recombinant scFv were then rescued by
infection with M13KO7 helper phage (Amersham, Saclay, France) in
2TYAK (15 g/L bacto-agar, 17 g/L bacto-tryptone, 10 g/L
bacto-yeast extract, 0.1 M NaCl, 50 µg/ml ampicillin, 50 µg/ml
kanamycin) medium as described (34).
Library affinity selection on activated coated platelets
Washed platelets were prepared from
acid-citrate-dextrose-anticoagulated blood according to
described procedures (3). Samples
(108 platelets/ml) were activated with 0.5 U/ml
human
-thrombin (Fibrindex; Ortho Diagnostics, Raritan, NJ). After
light fixation with 0.025% paraformaldehyde, activated platelets were
coated overnight at 4°C in 100 µl of 0.1 M of sodium bicarbonate
(pH 9) at a concentration of 107 platelets/well
on Costar 96-well plates (Polylabo, Strasbourg, France). The wells were
blocked with 200 µl of 2% dry fat milk in PBS. After a 2-h
incubation, 100 µl of phage library (typically
1012 CFU) were added to each well and were
incubated for 1 h at room temperature. A total of 16 individual
wells were used for the screening of each library. Unbound phages were
removed through repeated washing first with 0.1% (v/v) Tween 20 in PBS
and then by PBS. Bound phages were eluted with 0.1 M of triethylamine
for 5 min at room temperature, neutralized with 2 M of Tris-base, and
used to infect 20 ml of exponentially growing E. coli XL-1
blue (A600 of 0.4). The next day,
bacteria were scraped with 2TY medium supplemented with 50
µg/ml ampicillin and 100 mM of glucose to rescue the amplified eluted
phages for a new round of panning. Two rounds of panning were
conducted. Small-scale phage rescues were effected from the isolated
colonies and transferred to a sterile 96-deep-well master plate in
separated wells. Phages from single-infected colonies were stored at
4°C until required for phage-ELISA. The positive clones were analyzed
by restriction site digestions and by DNA sequencing.
Library affinity selection on activated platelets and CHO cells in suspension
A volume of 5 x 107
thrombin-activated platelets was mixed with 2.5 x
1011 CFU and the volume was made up to 1 ml with
2% milk-PBS. Binding was allowed to proceed for 1 h at room
temperature with end-over-end rotation (35). The unbound
phages were removed by five cycles of centrifugation (5000 x
g) and washings with PBS. The resulting platelet/phage
pellet was incubated in 0.5 ml of 6 M urea (pH 3) for 15 min at room
temperature followed by neutralization with 10 µl of 2 M Tris base.
The eluted phages were titered and amplified using E. coli
XL-1 blue before being used for subsequent rounds of selection. For the
second round, bound phages were competitively eluted using purified
IIb
3 (Enzyme Research
Laboratories, Swansea, U.K.) at a 10-fold higher concentration than
present on platelets. A third affinity selection was performed on
IIb
3-expressing CHO
cells (modified protocol of Goodson et al.; Ref. 36). To
preferentially select phagemid clones recognizing epitopes exclusive to
the activated form of
IIb
3,
1012 CFU from round two were preadsorbed for
1 h with 5 x 106 CHO cells expressing
the nonactivated (low-affinity) wild-type (WT)
IIb
3 (WT-CHO). The
cells were sedimented at 4°C, and the supernatant was incubated with
106 CHO cells displaying activated
(high-affinity), GFFKR-deleted
IIb
3 (Del-CHO). The
cells were washed five times with IMDM. The eluted phages (see above)
were amplified and titered on E. coli XL-1 blue, and phages
from single-infected colonies were again recovered on a master
plate.
Expression and purification of soluble scFv
For cloning into the vector pHOG21 (37), the
scFv genes of our selected
anti-
IIb
3 phage
Abs were digested with NcoI and NotI, separated
on an agarose gel, and purified. These products were then ligated to
NcoI/NotI-digested pHOG21. Transformed XL1-blue
E. coli bacteria were grown overnight in 2TY medium
supplemented with 50 µg/ml ampicillin and 100 mM glucose at 37°C.
Dilutions (1/60) of the overnight cultures were grown as 50-ml cultures
in shake-flasks at 37°C with shaking at 280 rpm. When the culture
reached an OD600 of 0.7, bacteria were pelleted
at 1500 x g for 10 min and were resuspended in the
same volume of fresh 2TY medium containing 50 µg/ml ampicillin and
0.4 M sucrose. ScFv expression was induced by the addition of 1 mM
isopropyl-
-D-thiogalactopyranoside. The
culture was allowed to grow for 78 h at 25°C. Bacteria were
harvested by centrifugation at 5000 x g for 10 min,
and the pellet was stored at -80°C. In the pHOG21 vector, the scFv
fragment is immediately followed by a c-myc tag recognized
by the mAb 9E10 and by six C-terminal histidine residues. The
6-His-tagged scFv were purified by immobilized metal affinity
chromatography on Ni-NTA spin columns (Qiagen). To isolate
soluble scFv fragments in native conditions, bacteria were resuspended
in lysis buffer (50 mM
NaH2PO4 (pH 8), 300 mM
NaCl, and 10 mM imidazole) to which was added 1 mg/ml lysozyme
(Sigma-Aldrich). After 30 min on ice and sonication, the lysate was
centrifuged at 10,000 x g for 30 min at 4°C and the
supernatant was loaded onto a Ni-NTA spin column. ScFv fragments were
isolated under the conditions recommended by the supplier. Eluted
material was dialyzed against PBS and was used for functional analysis
by ELISA.
Analysis of Ab reactivity by ELISA
The wells of 96-well microtiter plates were coated with 5
µg/ml purified
IIb
3. Control wells
were coated with 3.5 µg/ml BSA, 5 µg/ml myosin, or 5 µg/ml actin
(all from Sigma-Aldrich). Thrombin-activated washed platelets were
coated overnight at 4°C at 107 platelets/well.
Del-CHO and WT-CHO cells were seeded and grown as monolayers in 96-well
microtiter plates. Each well was blocked with 200 µl of 2% milk-PBS
for 2 h at 37°C. Rescued phages
(108109 CFU) were then
incubated overnight at 4°C. Nonspecific binding of helper phages was
evaluated by adding to control wells the same quantity of M13KO7. An
anti-Phox phage Ab that did not recognize
IIb
3 was also
included in the test as a negative control. The wells were then treated
with 100 µl of 10 µg/ml murine anti-M13 mAb (Amersham). Two
murine mAbs were used as positive controls for
IIb
3 binding: Y2/51,
an anti-CD61 mAb (DAKO, Trappes, France) and PAC-1, an IgM
mAb
that recognizes
IIb
3
and mimics the binding characteristics of fibrinogen (38).
After incubation for 2 h at room temperature, 100 µl of a 1/1000
dilution of HRP-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (Immunotech, Marseille,
France) was added and incubated for 90 min at room temperature. Color
was developed with 100 µl of ABTS (Sigma-Aldrich), and the absorbance
was read at 405 nm using an Emax precision microplate reader (Molecular
Devices, Sunnyvale, CA).
Soluble scFv fragments isolated by immobilized metal affinity
chromatography on Ni-NTA spin columns were tested on purified
IIb
3, human
platelets, and BSA using the anti-c-myc mAb 9E10 and
HRP-conjugated anti-mouse IgG.
SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis
SDS-PAGE was conducted under reducing conditions, and immunoblot analysis using anti-c-myc mAb 9E10 was performed as previously described (37, 39).
Determination of specificity and affinity of TEG4 and EBB3 scFv
The functional affinity of the scFv fragments was determined
using a soluble Ag competition ELISA with each scFv used at a dilution
that gave 50% maximal binding in PBS-dry fat milk 2% (w/v). Binding
of scFv to solid-phase
IIb
3 was evaluated
colorimetrically using the mAb 9E10 (anti-c-myc; see
above). Diluted scFv fragments were first preincubated for 18 h at
4°C with between 2.5 and 3000 nM of soluble purified
IIb
3 (a0) before they
were added to wells precoated with 5 µg/ml
IIb
3. Thus, the
amount of unbound scFv in the mixture was evaluated. Residual
anti-
IIb
3
activity (A) was measured relative to a control sample that was
incubated in an equal volume of buffer in the absence of soluble
IIb
3 (A0).
Capacity of fibrinogen to inhibit the interaction
IIb
3-soluble scFv
The ability of fibrinogen to inhibit the interaction between
IIb
3 and EBB3 or TEG4
scFv was evaluated at a dilution that gave 50% maximal binding to
solid-phase
IIb
3 in
2% milk-PBS (1/2 dilution) in a competition ELISA. The scFv were mixed
with increasing concentrations of fibrinogen (9.3 x
10-101.4 x 10-5
M) at 37°C. The mixture was then added to ELISA wells precoated with
5 µg/ml
IIb
3, and
binding of the scFv fragments on
IIb
3 was measured
using anti-c-myc Ab. Equivalent dilutions of the scFv
fragments without inhibitor (fibrinogen) served as the 100% binding
control.
The same incubations were performed using 5 x 10-93 x 10-4 M actin (Sigma-Aldrich) as a substrate control.
Fingerprinting
To fingerprint isolated clones, two restriction enzymes, BstNI and RsaI (Roche), were used. Two micrograms of each phagemid was digested with 10 U/µg BstNI for 2 h at 60°C or with 15 U/µg RsaI for 1 h at 37°C. Digestion products were then analyzed by electrophoresis in 3% (w/v) Nusieve agarose-gels (Life Technologies).
Restriction analysis of rearranged H and L chains
One microgram of the ELISA-positive clones were digested with restriction enzymes NcoI/NotI, MluI/NotI, and NcoI/HindIII (10 U/µg) for 1 h at 37°C. Digestion products were then analyzed by electrophoresis in 1.5% agarose gels.
Determination and analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of selected clones
Selected clones containing both functionally rearranged H and L chains were purified with Midiprep (Qiagen). The sequence reaction was performed with the sequenase sequencing kit (Amersham) and infrared fluorophore (infrared dye 800)-labeled primers using a DNA sequencer (LI-COR DNA sequencer 4000; Sciencetec, Les Ulis, France). H and L chains were sequenced on both strands a minimum of three times using two different primers. The infared dye-labeled sequencing primers used to determine the H chain sequence were HOG5 (5'-ATTAAAGAGGAGAAATTAACCA-3') hybridizing to the pSEX81-positive strand, and YOL3 (5'-CGCGTGCTTCTG-3') hybridizing to the negative strand of the pSEX81 linker. The primers used for the L chain were YOL2 (5'-GCTTGAAGAAGG-3') and SEQIV (5'-GA(AG)TTTTCTGTATGGGAT-3'), hybridizing to the positive strand of the pSEX81 linker and the pSEX81-negative strand, respectively. Automatic sequence analysis was done by computer program Base ImagIR Image Analysis Version 4. The programs DNAsis V2.1 and AlignIR V1.1 were used to further analyze all sequence data. The Ig V region sequences of the H and L genes were submitted to the DNA-Plot program for IMGT (40) and to FASTA, BLAST-n, and WU-BLASTX+BEAUTY programs for GenBank/EMBL.
The probability that the excess of replacement (R) mutations in the complementarity-determining region (CDR) or framework region (FR) (with respect to the closest germline genes) arose by chance was calculated according to the binomial distribution model (41, 42): p = [n!/k! (n - k)!] x qk x (1 - q)n- k. In this equation, n is the total number of observed mutations, q is the probability that an R mutation will localize to CDR or FR (q = Rf x CDRf or FRf where Rf is the expected proportion of R mutations (0.75), and CDRf or FRf is the relative size of the CDR or FR), and k is the number of observed R mutations in the CDR or FR. Amino acid residues occurring as a result of primer sequence in the FR1 region were excluded from the analysis. A p value of <0.05 indicated that the R mutations had occurred in a nonrandom fashion.
| Results |
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Separate scFv libraries were prepared from the lymphocytes (EB) or
splenocytes (TE) of donors previously shown to possess serum Abs to
integrin
IIb
3. After
cloning into the phagemid display vector pSEX81 and electroporation
into E. coli, sublibraries for the
- and
-chains were obtained for each patient. The
VH DNA repertoire was then cloned in a second
step into these recombinant
and
phagemid vectors, followed by
electroporation in E. coli. The size of the individual
sublibraries and libraries were determined after serial dilutions
followed by plating (Table I
).
Restriction digestion of the phagemid vector extracted from the
resultant EB and TE libraries with NcoI/HindIII
(VH digestion), MluI/NotI
(VL digestion), and
NcoI/NotI (scFv digestion) indicated that the
libraries contained the expected 400-bp inserts for
VH and VL and 800-bp
inserts for the scFv. For each library, 20 clones were selected at
random and were digested with the restriction enzymes BstNI
and RsaI (i.e., fingerprinting). All the clones checked for
diversity were different (data not shown).
|
IIb
3-specific clones
Two types of selection procedures were used for both IgG-derived
scFv libraries displayed on phagemid particles. The first consisted of
incubating the phages with activated platelets immobilized within the
wells of a microtiter plate. After the second round of panning, an
10-fold increase (from 3.1 x 103 to
2.8 x 104 CFU) in the titer of phage binding was
seen for EB. A similar amplification was not seen for TE. A total of 96
individual E. coli clones isolated from the second round of
panning of the EB library was rescued for phage expression in a
deep-well master plate. Phages derived from these 96 single-infected
colonies were checked for specificity for
IIb
3 by performing
phage-ELISAs. Purified integrin was used as Ag and BSA was used as the
control. A large number of colonies displayed specificity for
IIb
3, as illustrated
in Fig. 1
.
|
IIb
3 in a resting
state. This selection procedure resulted in a low amplification of the
eluted phages for both libraries. In view of the preadsorption to the
WT-CHO cell line, this could reflect recombinant phages specific for
the activated integrin. After reinfection in E. coli and
expansion, individual clones were picked from this third round and were
subjected to ELISA analysis against purified
IIb
3. A large number
of positive clones was now obtained for both libraries (data not
shown). Clones producing scFv fragments giving high OD values in the ELISA assay were digested with the restriction enzymes NcoI and NotI. In this way, we ensured that functional restriction sites were still present in the construction for recloning into the pHOG21 vector for the production of soluble scFv. Further restriction analyses of their isolated DNA with NcoI, NotI, MluI, and HindIII revealed that some contained truncated H and/or L chain inserts. Sequencing revealed that they lacked part of the H or L chain V domains. These clones were not studied further.
Specificities against
IIb
3 in an
activated and a resting form
Ten selected phage Abs were tested by ELISA for their capacity to
bind to a panel of unrelated Ags, including BSA, actin, and myosin.
They all failed to react with these proteins (OD < 0.05). Fig. 2
shows the binding characteristics of
the phage Abs against
IIb
3 expressed in
different conditions. A large majority of the phage Abs recognized the
integrin independently of the source of
IIb
3 used. However,
differences in the binding intensity sometimes occurred, as shown by
TEG4 and EBE12 phage Abs, which showed greater reactivity with coated
activated platelets than to
IIb
3-expressing CHO
cells. For TEH11 and TEF2, the contrary is observed with a better
recognition of the Del-CHO cell line. To further characterize the
binding of our phage Abs, they were compared with two murine mAbs that
bind to the
IIb
3
complex. One of them, Y2/51, equally recognizes
3 in both the activated and unactivated
conformations of the integrin. The other, PAC-1, is an IgM mAb that
recognizes the activated conformation of the complex. Fig. 2
demonstrates the binding of PAC-1 to thrombin-activated platelets and
to the Del-CHO cell line with little recognition of the WT-CHO cell
line. These results clearly underline a preferential recognition of the
activated form of
IIb
3 expressed on the
CHO cell line for clones like TEH11, TEF2, EBB3, and EBB10.
|
The 10 selected phage Abs were recloned into the pHOG21 vector for
the production of soluble scFv. Western blot experiments were realized
on purified bacterial lysates to show properly expressed soluble scFv
Ab fragments of the expected size (Fig. 3
). We obtained full-length scFv
fragments for all scFv fragments except TEA9, TEB7, and EBE12, which
could not be expressed as soluble fragments using our bacterial system
despite several attempts and despite the fact that the pHOG21
expression vector contains a DNA insert of the expected size. The
purified bacterial lysates showed specific binding to purified
IIb
3 or
IIb
3 on platelets by
ELISA analysis (Fig. 4
).
|
|
The scFv-binding affinities of TEG4 and EBB3 were assessed
according to a previously described method that uses the Klotz equation
(43). As shown in Fig. 5
, TEG4 was found to have a Kd value of
2.6 x 10-6 M and EBB3 has a
Kd value of 1.8 x
10-7 M. Binding specificity was confirmed by the
demonstration that soluble
IIb
3 inhibited the
scFv interaction with immobilized
IIb
3.
|
Fig. 6
shows the inhibition of the
binding of EBB3- and TEG4-soluble scFv samples to
IIb
3 by fibrinogen in
the micromolar range (TEG4, 3 x 10-6 M;
EBB3, 7 x 10-6 M), clearly indicating
specific binding and biological potency. Thus, these scFv fragments
were competing with fibrinogen, the physiologic ligand of
IIb
3. Concomitantly,
the same experiments realized with actin (5 x
10-93 x 10-4 M)
showed no relevant inhibition of scFv binding (shown for EBB3).
|
IIb
3-specific clones
The nucleotide sequences of the VH
and VL genes of the selected
IIb
3-specific clones
were determined and aligned to the most homologous germline genes in
the IMGT/DNA PLOT directory (http://imgt.cines.fr:8104/). For example,
VH domains of clones EBB10, TEH11, and TEA9 used
VH germline genes from the
VH1 family (see Table II
). It should be noted that
VH domains from the VH1
and VH3 families all belonged to different
germline genes. The number of somatic mutations in the
anti-
IIb
3
VH domains ranged from 0 to 27. All have
distinct CDR3 sequences with the use of different D segment
genes. Only the JH4*02 gene, encoding the carboxy terminal
part of CDR3, appeared to be preferentially rearranged, although it was
truncated differently in the eight clones that used this segment. The
10 distinct VH domains identified paired with a
variety of VL domains (Table II
). For example,
the VL domains of clones EBA11, EBG10, EBB3, and
EBE12 used V
genes from the
V
3 family. However, only two
V
genes were used; TEA9 clones were
encoded by a V
1 germline gene and the
TEH11 clone was encoded by a V
2
gene. All V
genes used the
J3 segment (eight clones), whereas the J
2
segment was used for remaining clones. The number of somatic mutations
in the anti-
IIb
3
VL domains ranged from 0 to 19.
|
IIb
3 phage Abs
An Ig gene displays a higher number of R mutations in the CDRs
than given by chance alone when a positive pressure is exerted by Ag to
enhance the fit of the Abs (42). The distribution and
nature of the point mutations in the V segments were studied to
determine whether our phage Abs display mutations that are consistent
with selection by Ag. The results are given in Table III
. In the case of a positive antigenic
pressure in vivo that results in the mutation of the Ig V
CDR structure, the likelihood that the excess of R mutations in the CDR
arose by chance is low (taking the phage Ab EBA11 as an example,
p = 0.017 for the VH CDR
portions). Concomitantly, a lower proportion of R mutations than was
expected is observed in the FR portion (11 expected in the HFR of EBA11
for 8 observed). The calculated ratios between R and silent (S)
mutations gave a value of 6 for the CDR and 2.6 for the FR. This
strongly supports our hypothesis, because for an Ag-driven process, the
R/S value was determined to be above 2.9 in the CDRs (44).
Similarly, the VH segment of clones EBE12,
TEH11, TEF2, and TEB7, and the VL segment of
clones EBB10, EBB3, EBG10, TEF2, and TEA9 showed a higher concentration
of R mutations and a higher R/S mutation ratio in the CDR regions than
in the FR regions, findings that were highly consistent with selection
by Ag. No R mutations occurred in EBB10, EBG10, TEG4, and TEA9
VH segment CDRs, the VH
of EBG10 displaying an entirely germline configuration. Concerning the
VL segment CDR, no R mutations occurred in
EBE12, TEG4, and TEB7. The VL segment of TEH11
had two R mutations in the CDR without evidence of a positive antigenic
pressure (R/S = one in CDR with R/S = two in FR). Overall,
about one-half of our
anti-
IIb
3 phage
Abs contained a statistically significant number of mutations in their
VH or VL domains.
VH and VL nucleotide
sequences of each phage Ab were made available from EMBL data library,
and accession numbers (from AJ308447 to AJ308466) were included in the
database.
|
IIb
3 Abs
The HCDR3 regions of our phage Abs were compared with those of
other murine and human mAbs, particularly with respect to the presence
of RGD and AGDV motifs found in fibrinogen domains reactive with the
integrin (Table IV
). Some of the
sequences determined for our phage Abs contained variations of the RGD
motif where the glycine was replaced (RWD and RVD) or lacking (RD).
These type of sequences have previously been observed in phage
libraries expressing cyclic CX67C peptides selected after panning
with
IIb
3 integrin
(52). One phage Ab, EBA11, was found to contain
another variation in its CDR3 region, an RNGD sequence.
Variations were also found within the AGDV motif, with, for
example ARDV in TEA9. The PAC-1 IgM murine mAb, which binds
selectively to activated platelets, contained a variation of RGD: the
RYD motif (38). Interestingly, a portion of the HCDR3
region of PAC-1, YYRYD containing the RYD motif,
is similar to a portion of the HCDR3 of EBA11,
YFSFD, according to multiple alignment analysis
using the Genebee service
(http://www.genebee.msu.su/services/malign_reduced.html). TEF2 also
shares with PAC-1 a YDSSGRY motif and
EBB3 shares a YG-SGSQ motif. However,
the RYD sequence by itself is not able to induce activation dependence
because two other mAbs, OP-G2 and LJ-CP3, also contain the RYD motif in
the HCDR3 region and bind to both activated and nonactivated forms of
IIb
3
(53). As many CDR3 sequences were found to harbor neither
the RGD nor the AGDV sequences, multiple alignment analyses were
performed to reveal other repeated motifs shared by reported
anti-
IIb
3 Abs and
our phage Abs. These motifs are shown in bold type in Table IV
and are
aligned according to the strongest homologies using the Genebee
service. The GXYY(F)XXD
motif is encountered in EBA11, PAC-1, OP-G2, and LJ-CP3 Abs. The
YFDY motif is encountered in four Abs, XIIF9, TEG4, U38663,
and TEB7. The WDSRWDAF-DL
sequence of EBE12 is similar to the
WGSYRDPYFDY sequence of
U38663 and to the
WGG-WDHYMDV sequence of
PDG31. The GNFGYFDY portion of TEB7 is
highly homologous to the GNYGWFAY
portion of U05216 and to the GRYSYNDH
motif of TEF2. Finally, the RDVTLVR sequence
carried by TEA9 was also determined by Genebee analysis as being
structurally similar to the RDITVLP region of XIIF9, a
murine mAb that was found to bind particularly well to activated
platelets as shown by Scatchard analysis (54).
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
3 subunit have
been shown to inhibit murine mAb binding, suggesting that their
epitopes lie close to each other (4). However, it remains
to be seen whether a monoclonal response is developed or whether a
restricted region of the integrin is targeted by heterogeneous human
Abs. In this study, evidence was obtained in favor of a polyclonal
response in both patients. An unexpected finding was that a large
repertoire of VH and VL
germline genes were used. Indeed, five of six VH
families were represented. Although the use of
VL genes was also wide,
V
genes appeared to predominate,
especially for the GT patient. In agreement with our findings, a
-chain restriction of autoantibodies against platelet
IIb
3 was previously
reported in AITP patients (55, 56). However, our results
showed that no one germline gene was preferentially used. Polyclonal
responses have also been reported for patients with posttransfusion
purpura where multiple forms of Ab differing in their functional or
qualitative characteristics have been demonstrated in the same serum
(57). Furthermore, a series of human recombinant mAbs
coded by different germline genes but all directed against HPA-1
alloantigen were obtained by phage display (9).
We analyzed the somatic mutations present in the V genes of
the Abs obtained from our patients to gain information on the secreting
B cells. In general, V regions from Ag-activated B cells
have nonrandom patterns of somatic mutations. These patterns result
from the positive selection of cells with R mutations in CDRs,
presumably because some of these mutations improve Ab affinity for Ag
(20, 21, 22, 23, 24). Mutation analysis performed with our phage Abs
revealed that 4050% of the VH and
VL genes coding for the Abs in both
patients showed evidence of somatic hypermutation, supporting the idea
that a significant part of the
anti-
IIb
3
response developed in AITP or GT patients is driven by Ag. Our results
confirm recent experiments where phage display was successfully used to
isolate Abs from individuals with demonstrable serum Ab responses to a
variety of Ags, including infectious agents such as HIV-1
(17), mutated protein in malignancy (18), and
self Ags in autoimmune diseases (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19). Isolated Abs
have been shown to reflect the in vivo Ab response, and, even if
theoretically, the combinatorial approach implies the possibility of
pairings of L and H chains not present in the
original source tissue. The existence of a nonrandom mutational process
for one-half of our phage Abs provides strong support for the
contention that they reflect an in vivo Ag-driven immune response in
these patients. Moreover, previous studies reported that the
recombination freedom of a VH domain shaped by
somatic mutation is limited, probably based on structural restriction
(58).
Interestingly, both Ag-driven and germline clones specifically
recognized the
IIb
3
integrin, thus confirming previous results that germline chain genes
can code highly specific Abs (59, 60). Studies are in
progress to determine whether the highly specific germline IgG clones
really secrete pathogenic Abs that retain a germline sequence or
whether they represent anergized autoreactive B cells also found in
nonimmunized subjects that possess the genetic potential to produce
anti-
IIb
3 Abs
(61). However, despite several attempts, we have been
unable to select
anti-
IIb
3 phage
Abs from a complex naive library made from mRNA isolated from pooled
blood of 50 healthy donors (33). Autoreactive B cells,
even if present in naive blood samples, are certainly not
proliferating, and, as a result, the RNA may not be in sufficient
amounts to be amplified. Significantly, IgG anti-ds DNA were
recovered from the library of a clinically active systemic lupus
erythematosus patient, but not from the library of his healthy
identical twin (12). Therefore, the minimally mutated Abs
in our study may be either pathogenic by themselves or may be the
template for the expansion of pathogenic Abs.
The events triggering the clonal proliferation process are as yet
undefined, and a lot of questions remain open. Natural autoreactivity
is highly regulated by active cellular and humoral control mechanisms.
The selection of human natural self-reactive IgG Ab repertoires
requires normal T/B cell interactions (62). More
particularly,
IIb
3-autoreactive T
cells that share characteristics with anergic T cells have been
demonstrated in healthy individuals under physiological conditions
(63). In autoimmune diseases, altered T/B cell
interactions may have an impact on the selection of uncontrolled
self-reactive Ab repertoires. A defective control of IgG autoreactivity
by anti-idiotypic Abs may also be an underlying mechanism for
emergence of autoimmunity (64). Moreover, many cases of
autoimmune pathologies such as AITP are a direct result of autoantibody
binding. In AITP, highly specific
anti-
IIb
3 Abs are
frequently developed. The differences between natural Abs directed
against self-components and autoantibodies developed in autoimmune
diseases often rely on polyspecificity and idiotopes on their
V region targeted by anti-idiotypic Abs
(22). Defects in the idiotypic network that ensures
homeostasis of autoreactivity could have thus contributed, in AITP
disease, to the uncontrolled emergence and expansion of highly specific
anti-
IIb
3
"pathogenic" autoantibodies presenting with a favorable
VDJ rearrangement. Similar results in terms of percentage of
mutated Abs and highly specific clones apply to polytransfused GT
patients, in which case the stimulus would be the
IIb
3 integrin present
on donor platelets.
Our report describes the first recombinant phage Abs derived from
splenocytes of an AITP patient. One other study reported the isolation
of an anti-
IIb
3
mAb from lymphocytes of a GT patient (7). When further
tested under various conditions against activated and unactivated forms
of
IIb
3, some bound
preferentially to the activated form. To our knowledge, this is the
first time that human
anti-
IIb
3 Abs
have been isolated from donors immunized against this integrin and
shown to recognize its different activation states. The isolation of
anti-
IIb
3 Abs
with different activation-dependent requirements, especially those that
preferentially bind to an activated conformation, is of potential
interest both from a fundamental and a therapeutic point of view. Such
Abs may aid the further study of the ligand recognition specificity of
the integrin. There are still many unknowns relating to the mechanisms
leading to the activation of
IIb
3 and to the
structure of the ligand-binding pocket (65, 66, 67, 68). At least
two ligand binding sites exist on
IIb
3, and the
activation requirement for ligand binding appears to depend on the type
of ligand being examined. Binding of soluble adhesive proteins such as
fibrinogen (AGDV-type ligand) or fibronectin (RGD-type ligand) require
the ligand-binding pocket to be expressed, whereas low molecular
mass-RGD-mimetic compounds can bind to
IIb
3 in an
activation-independent manner. The RGD sequence has often been used as
a starting structure for designing anti-thrombotic agents. However,
the CDR3 regions of previously described murine and human
anti-
IIb
3 mAbs
are highly variable and very few of them contain the well-known RGD or
AGDV sequences (see Table IV
). In the current study, our phage Abs
contained HCDR3 portions with various motifs whose binding
specificities can be investigated in future work.
Studies from Bednar et al. (69) clearly indicate that
agents recognizing the platelet
IIb
3 receptor with
high affinity and selectivity for activated rather than resting
platelets possess a higher therapeutic potential for thromboembolic
events. Development of activation-dependent human Abs that could mimic
fibrinogen in their binding capacity may alleviate some adverse effects
such as the increased bleeding risk encountered with the use of the
present generation of
IIb
3 antagonists in
which abciximab, chimeric Fab2 of the mAb 7E3 is
the most widely used (29). Fully human mAbs would be more
suitable for repeated therapy because of their lower immunogenicity
(30). Furthermore, Abs preferentially recognizing the
activated form may be active at lower therapeutic levels. Fully
recombinant human scFv fragments as reported in Table IV
able to
preferentially bind to the activated form of
IIb
3 will be
investigated in further studies as potential antagonists of this
integrin.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Current address: Affimed Therapeutics, Dr. A. Reimann Strasse 2, 68526 Lademburg, Germany. ![]()
3 Current address: BASF-LYNX Bioscience AG, Im Neuenheimer Feld 515, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. ![]()
4 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gisèle Clofent-Sanchez, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5533, Hopital Cardiologique, Avenue de Magellan, 33604, Pessac, France. E-mail address: Gisele.Clofent{at}umr5533.u-bordeaux2.fr ![]()
5 Abbreviations used in this paper: AITP, autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura; GT, Glanzmann thrombasthenia; CDR, complementarity-determining region; CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; WT, wild type; WT-CHO, WT
IIb
3; Del-CHO, high- affinity, GFFKR-deleted
IIb
3; FR, framework region; R, replacement; S, silent; HCDR3, H chain CDR3. ![]()
Received for publication February 9, 2001. Accepted for publication December 3, 2001.
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P. Chen, C.-X. Sun, and J.-N. Liu A Novel Anti-platelet Monoclonal Antibody (3C7) Specific for the Complex of Integrin {alpha}IIb{beta}3 Inhibits Platelet Aggregation and Adhesion J. Biol. Chem., July 8, 2005; 280(27): 25403 - 25408. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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