AACR 2018 – American Association for Cancer Research

Traditional approaches to screen for antibody Fc effector functions focus on ADCC using a homogenous live/dead readout, which greatly limits the contextual and correlative value of the screening data. To overcome this limitation, a multiplex screening assay profiling ADCC using multiple cell death endpoints, and quantitating secreted proteins/cytokines was developed and analyzed using Intellicyt’s iQue Screener PLUS and integrated ForeCyt® software. The iQue Screener Plus is a high throughput flow cytometry platform featuring 3 lasers with 13 fluorescent channels and can sample a 384-well plate in 20 minutes.

As a proof of concept, a small set of therapeutic antibodies directed against the same tumor antigen were used to induce immune cell-mediated killing of tumor cells using different effector to target cell ratios and a range of antibody concentrations. To demonstrate antibody specificity, antigen positive target cells, negative control target cells and effector immune cells were barcoded with different encoding dyes and included in the same well. At specific times, a small aliquot from each well was transferred to a new assay plate to run a multiplexed cell/bead mixture assay by the addition of a cocktail of fluorescent immunophenotyping antibodies, fluorescent dyes measuring unique apoptosis parameters, and a panel of Qbeads for secreted protein detection. The samples were assayed on the Intellicyt iQue Screener PLUS with simultaneous data analysis including multi-plate analysis for cell killing kinetics. Positive/negative target cells and immune cells were digitally segregated by differently encoded fluorescence. Time-dependent cell killing of antigen positive target cells were observed using the apoptosis markers mitochondria depolarization staining and cell membrane integrity, whereas little killing was measured in antigen negative cells. The antibody set showed a range of ADCC mediated killing and granule exocytosis/cytokine release suggesting differences in Fc effector functions. These results highlight the streamlined workflow on Intellicyt iQue Screener PLUS platform to profile therapeutic antibodies in a functional ADCC/cytokine release assay predicting their clinical efficacy.

Here, we describe novel and enabling cell-based Ab internalization assays that are turnkey, medium throughput and geared toward industrial biologics discovery. Internalization measurements are made over time on 96-well microplates using live-cell analysis (IncuCyte® S3) and a fluorescent pH-sensitive dye coupled antibody-binding fragment (FabFluor) that binds the test mAb Fc region using a single step, no wash labeling protocol. An increase in fluorescence signal is observed as the mAb complex is internalized into the acidic lysosome. To validate this approach trastuzumab (Herceptin, Her-2) or rituximab (Rituxan, CD20) were mixed with the hFabFluor reagent (1: 3 molar ratio, 15min), serially diluted in complete media (1:2) and added to pre-plated BT-474 or Raji cells (no wash). Cell images (10-20x) were taken and automatically analysed for fluorescence area every 30min for up to 48h. Both trastuzumab (BT-474) and rituximab (Raji) caused clear time- and concentration-dependent internalization (EC50 values 2.1 and 2.6nM, respectively). The fluorescence signal was punctate, outside of the nucleus and strongly co-localized with a lysosomal marker (LysoSensor). In line with known marker expression profiles, specific internalization of mAbs to CD45, CD71 and CD3, but not CD20, was observed in Jurkat T-lymphocytes and CD45, CD71 and CD20, but not CD3 in Raji B cells. As a proof of concept for screening and direct comparison of test mAbs, 6 commercially available CD71 (transferrin receptor) Abs were labeled with mFabFluor reagent, serially diluted (1:2, 4.6-10000 ng/ml-1) and added to HT1080 osteosarcoma cells. 3 of the Abs produced a large internalization signal with detection <50ng mL-1, whilst the other 3 were internalized weakly with signal only visible at higher concentrations. A mean Z’ value of 0.82 was calculated from control wells indicating a microplate assay with high precision and robustness.

Taken together these data support the validation of a simple, integrated and quantitative solution for directly studying internalization of mAbs into cells which can easily be scaled to compare multiple Abs in parallel. This method enables mAb and ADC internalization measurements to be implemented at early stages of the biologics discovery process and will prove valuable in efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic optimization.