The Pharmacology study of a new recombinant TNF receptor-hyFc fusion protein.

Abstract

TNF-alpha-blocking agents such as infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept are widely used for the treatment of severe inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. The currently used TNF-blockers have Pc regions of the human IgG1 subtype, which is advantageous in terms of in vivo half-life but also raise the potential for unwanted effector-mediated effects, such as antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) or complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). To address this issue, we constructed a novel hybrid protein by fusing the TNF receptor (TNFR) with a hybrid Fc (hyFc) consisting of the CH2 and CH3 regions of IgG4 and the highly flexible hinge regions of IgD which would not have ADCC and CDC activity. The resulting fusion protein, TNFR-hyFc, was over-expressed in CHO and pharmacological characteristics were evaluated in comparison with the structurally similar etanercept TNFR-hyFc effectively neutralized TNF-alpha in L929 bioassay and showed a 1.5-fold higher neutralizing activity compared to etanercept. In a pharmacokinetic study in cynomolgus monkeys, TNFR-hyFc showed plasma half-life and AUC comparable to etanercept. In a mouse collagen induced arthritis model, TNFR-hyFc showed significant amelioration of arthritis compared to etanercept or vehicle control. In an LPSinduced septic shock model, TNFR-hyFc showed a similar level of protection against mortality as etanercept These results confirm the feasibility of the TNFR-hyFc as an effective TNF-alpha blocker for the treatment of inflammatorV diseases. (C) 2012 The International Alliance for Biological Standardization. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.