Pre-Clinical Characterization of T Cell-Dependent Bispecific Antibody Anti-CD79b/CD3 As a Potential Therapy for B Cell Malignancies

T-cell recruiting bispecific antibodies and antibody fragments have been used to harness the cytotoxic potential of T cells for cancer treatment. As an example, encouraging clinical responses have been reported with the B cell targeting Blinatumomab, a 55-kDa fusion protein composed of two single-chain antibody fragments (scFvs). However, the therapeutic promise of many reported bispecific antibodies and fragments is often limited by unfavorable pharmacokinetics and administration schedule, immunogenicity, and a propensity towards aggregation. We have adopted a knobs-into-holes (KIH) antibody format and produced T-cell dependent bispecific antibodies (TDB), which allow one arm to target various B cell antigens while the other arm recruits T cells by binding to the CD3e subunit of the T-cell receptor. These B cell targeting TDBs are full length, humanized IgG1 antibodies with natural antibody architecture. Single dose pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies in cynomolgus monkeys show the KIH format TDBs are well tolerated in life, result in potent B cell depletion in peripheral and lymphoid tissue, and demonstrate pharmacokinetic properties resembling conventional antibody therapy.

One B cell antigen targeted is CD79b, a component of the B cell receptor complex. CD79b is restricted to B cells, is highly prevalent on B cell leukemia and lymphomas, and has been clinically validated by an anti-CD79b antibody-drug conjugate as a safe and effective therapeutic target for B cell malignancies (ASCO 2014 abstract#8519). In our present work, we show that anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB can be produced and purified from E.coli, free of homodimer and aggregates. Anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB is a conditional agonist, activating CD3+T cells only in the presence of CD79b expressing B cells. In vitro, it induces potent B cell killing in a T-cell dependent manner, and is broadly active against lymphoma cell lines with a wide range of CD79b antigen levels. Compared to bispecific antibodies targeting some other B cell antigens, anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB appears to be more potent in autologous B cell killing assays with human PBMCs isolated from healthy donors. Taking advantage of antibodies with a range of binding affinities, we show that the B cell cytotoxic potency of anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB can be enhanced with increased binding affinity of either the anti-CD79b arm or the anti-CD3 arm in vitro. To assess the therapeutic potential of anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB, we further demonstrate that it is active in killing B lymphoma cells isolated from leukemia and lymphoma patients. Collectively, these preclinical data suggest anti-CD79b/CD3 TDB may be a promising agent for clinical development in B cell malignancies.