Naturally split intein Npu DnaE mediated rapid generation of bispecific IgG antibodies

Abstract

High product purity, preserving natural IgG architecture, and excellent production efficiency are highly desirable in bispecific antibody manufacturing. We have reported a platform called Bispecific Antibody by Protein Trans-Splicing (BAPTS) to synthesize BsAbs with natural human IgG structure and no chain mispairing. In the method, two antibody fragments carrying different target-specificities are separately expressed in mammalian cells and subsequently fused to form BsAbs by utilizing the trans-splicing property of the split intein Npu DnaE. The hinge region of antibody, a region with less functional impact, is selected for conjugating the two fragments. The method involves the following steps: (i) constructing five plasmids coding antibody components; (ii) separately expressing and purifying two antibody fragments A and B. Fragment A contains one Fab, "Knobs-into-Holes" mutations in the CH3 domain and NPU DnaE^C. Fragment B contains another Fab and NPU DnaE^N; (iii) mixing of fragments A and B under permissive reducing conditions in vitro to enable trans-splicing reaction; (iv) removing the reductant to allow re-oxidation of disulfide bonds; (v) isolating BsAb product from unreacted precursors by affinity chromatography. The method allows correct assembly of two heavy and two light chains to form bispecific IgG antibodies in natural structure with no synthetic linkers. No chain mispairing was observed in the product by UPLC-MASS. In addition, the observed kinetics and low reaction activation energy confirmed that the trans-splicing is thermodynamically favored reaction. The BAPTS technology is feasible for industrial applications.

Keywords: Bispecific antibody; Npu DnaE; Protein engineering; Split intein; Trans-splicing reaction.