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Cancer Immunotherapy exploiting engineered antibody fragments against prostate-specific membrane antigen
Das, Gargi ; Bařinka, Cyril (advisor) ; Vaněk, Ondřej (referee) ; Ormsby, Tereza (referee)
Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a leading cause of male cancer-related mortality, necessitating thus the development of novel therapeutic approaches as conventional treatments have limited efficacy. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is an established biomarker for both imaging and therapy of PCa, as it is highly upregulated in neoplastic PCa tissues and metastatic castration- resistant prostate cancer. Consequently, immunological targeting of PSMA has gained significant attention as a therapeutic platform for the management of the disease. The thesis is focused on engineering of antibody fragments and fusion proteins derived from the high affinity anti-PSMA 5D3 monoclonal antibody that can be used as immune cell engagers to target and eliminate PSMA-positive cells. To this end, we engineered 5D3 single chain variable fragments (scFv) that were subsequently fused to anti-CD3 scFv and CP33 sequences, creating thus immune cell engagers targeting T-cells (BiTE) and monocytes (5D3-CP33), respectively. The engagers were expressed in insect cells, purified to homogeneity and their biophysical and functional characteristics evaluated using size exclusion chromatography, differential scanning fluorimetry, ELISA and flow cytometry. Ensuing cell-based assays revealed that both BiTE and 5D3-CP33 can...
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