Biomacromolecules, Vol.18, No.6, 1893-1907, 2017
Multivalent Soluble Antigen Arrays Exhibit High Avidity Binding and Modulation of B Cell Receptor-Mediated Signaling to Drive Efficacy against Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
A pressing need exists for antigen-specific immunotherapies (ASIT) that induce selective tolerance in autoimmune disease while avoiding deleterious global immunosuppression. Multivalent soluble antigen arrays (SAgA(PLP:LABL)), consisting of a hyaluronic acid (HA) linear polymer backbone cografted with multiple copies of autoantigen (PLP) and cell adhesion inhibitor (LABL) peptides, are designed to induce tolerance to a specific multiple sclerosis (MS) autoantigen. Previous studies established that hydrolyzable SAgA(PLP:LABL), employing a degradable linker to codeliver PLP and LABL, was therapeutic in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in vivo and exhibited antigen-specific binding with B cells, targeted the B cell receptor (BCR), and dampened BCR-mediated signaling in vitro. Our results pointed to sustained BCR engagement as the SAgA(PLP:LABL) therapeutic mechanism, so we developed a new version of the SAgA molecule using nonhydrolyzable conjugation chemistry, hypothesizing it would enhance and maintain the molecule's action at the cell surface to improve efficacy. "Click SAgA" (cSAgA(PLP:LABL)) uses hydrolytically stable covalent conjugation chemistry (Copper-catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition (CuAAC)) rather than a hydrolyzable oxime bond to attach PLP and LABL to HA. We explored cSAgA(PLP:LABL) B cell engagement and modulation of BCR-mediated signaling in vitro through flow cytometry binding and calcium flux signaling assays. Indeed, cSAgA(PLP:LABL) exhibited higher avidity B cell binding and greater dampening of BCR-mediated signaling than hydrolyzable SAgA(PLP:LABL). Furthermore, cSAgA(PLP:LABL) exhibited significantly enhanced in vivo efficacy compared to hydrolyzable SAgA(PLP:LABL), achieving equivalent efficacy at one-quarter of the dose. These results indicate that nonhydrolyzable conjugation increased the avidity of cSAgA(PLP:LABL) to drive in vivo efficacy through modulated BCR-mediated signaling.