Abstract
The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) plays a key role in determining the pharmacokinetic behavior of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). FcRn-mediated intracellular trafficking mechanisms extend the half-lives of mAbs by rescuing them from lysosomal degradation and contribute to their transportation from the vascular space to tissue compartments such as placenta and mucosal surfaces. It is important to characterize the FcRn interactions of therapeutic mAbs and Fc-fusion proteins due to its potential impact on their in vivo pharmacokinetic properties such as clearance and half-life. In this chapter, we describe protocols for two cell-based assays that measure the total function of FcRn which involves pH-dependent association and dissociation with IgG-Fc, as well as FcRn-mediated intracellular trafficking parameters. These assays are suitable for characterization of FcRn interactions with therapeutic mAbs and Fc-fusion proteins for the purpose of assessing lot-to-lot consistency and the structural and functional integrity of the Fc domain. In addition, they may serve as cost-effective screening tools for the evaluation of mAb-based drug candidates during lead selection and optimization for desired pharmacokinetic properties.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kamath AV (2016) Translational pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of monoclonal antibodies. Drug Discov Today Technol 21–22:75–83
Pyzik M, Rath T, Lencer WI et al (2015) FcRn: the architect behind the immune and nonimmune functions of IgG and albumin. J Immunol 194:4595–4603
Ward ES, Devanaboyina SC, Ober RJ (2015) Targeting FcRn for the modulation of antibody dynamics. Mol Immunol 67:131–141
Yeung YA, Leabman MK, Marvin JS et al (2009) Engineering human IgG1 affinity to human neonatal Fc receptor: impact of affinity improvement on pharmacokinetics in primates. J Immunol 182(12):7663–7671
Deng R, Loyet KM, Lien S et al (2010) Pharmacokinetics of humanized monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} antibody and its neonatal Fc receptor variants in mice and cynomolgus monkeys. Drug Metab Dispos 38:600–605
Mathur A, Arora T, Liu L et al (2013) Qualification of a homogeneous cell-based neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) binding assay and its application to studies on Fc functionality of IgG-based therapeutics. J Immunol Methods 390(1-2):81–91
Schlothauer T, Rueger P, Stracke JO et al (2013) Analytical FcRn affinity chromatography for functional characterization of monoclonal antibodies. mAbs 5(4):576–586
Souders CA, Nelson SC, Wang Y et al (2015) A novel in vitro assay to predict neonatal Fc receptor-mediated human IgG half-life. mAbs 7(5):912–921
Tesar DB, Tiangco NE et al (2006) Ligand valency affects transcytosis, recycling and intracellular trafficking mediated by the neonatal Fc receptor. Traffic 7(9):1127–1142
Lu Y, Vernes JM, Chiang N et al (2011) Identification of IgG1 variants with increased affinity to FcgammaRIIIa and unaltered affinity to FcgammaRI and FcRn: comparison of soluble receptor-based and cell-based binding assays. J Immunol Methods 365(1-2):132–141
Chung S, Lin YL, Nguyen V et al (2018) Development of a label-free FcRn-mediated transcytosis assay for in vitro characterization of FcRn interactions with therapeutic antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins. J Immunol Methods 462:101–105
Chung S, Nguyen V, Lin YL et al (2019) An in vitro FcRn-dependent transcytosis assay as a screening tool for predictive assessment of non-specific clearance of antibody therapeutics in humans. mAbs 11(5):942–955
Larson B, Banks P, Sherman H et al (2012) Automation of cell-based drug absorption assays in 96-well format using permeable support systems. J Lab Autom 17(3):222–232
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Patricia Y. Siguenza for her support of the project, Dr. Lynn Kamen for providing valuable comments on the manuscript, and colleagues at the Core Biophysical Characterization and Reagent Facility, and the Critical Reagents System for providing critical reagents.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Chung, S., Lin, Y.L., Nguyen, V., Liu, C. (2022). Methods for Functional Characterization of FcRn Interactions with Therapeutic Antibodies and Fc-Fusion Proteins. In: Houen, G. (eds) Therapeutic Antibodies. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2313. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1450-1_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1450-1_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1449-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1450-1
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols