Rational design of potent domain antibody inhibitors of amyloid fibril assembly

Ali Reza A. Ladiwala, Moumita Bhattacharya, Joseph M. Perchiacca, Ping Cao, Daniel P. Raleigh, Andisheh Abedini, Ann Marie Schmidt, Jobin Varkey, Ralf Langen, and Peter M. Tessier
PNAS first published November 15, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1208797109

  1. Edited by David Eisenberg, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, and approved October 9, 2012 (received for review May 28, 2012)

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Abstract

Antibodies hold significant potential for inhibiting toxic protein aggregation associated with conformational disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. However, near-stoichiometric antibody concentrations are typically required to completely inhibit protein aggregation. We posited that the molecular interactions mediating amyloid fibril formation could be harnessed to generate antibodies with potent antiaggregation. Here we report that grafting small amyloidogenic peptides (6–10 residues) into the complementarity-determining regions of a single-domain (VH) antibody yields potent domain antibody inhibitors of amyloid formation. Grafted AMyloid-Motif AntiBODIES (gammabodies) presenting hydrophobic peptides from Aβ (Alzheimer’s disease), α-Synuclein (Parkinson's disease), and islet amyloid polypeptide (type 2 diabetes) inhibit fibril assembly of each corresponding polypeptide at low substoichiometric concentrations (1:10 gammabody:monomer molar ratio). In contrast, sequence- and conformation-specific antibodies that were obtained via immunization are unable to prevent fibrillization at the same substoichiometric concentrations. Gammabodies prevent amyloid formation by converting monomers and/or fibrillar intermediates into small complexes that are unstructured and benign. We expect that our antibody design approach—which eliminates the need for immunization or screening to identify sequence-specific domain antibody inhibitors—can be readily extended to generate potent aggregation inhibitors of other amyloidogenic polypeptides linked to human disease.

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tessier{at}rpi.edu.

  • Author contributions: A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., D.P.R., A.A., J.V., R.L., and P.M.T. designed research; A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., A.A., and J.V. performed research; P.C., D.P.R., A.A., A.M.S., J.V., and R.L. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., D.P.R., A.A., J.V., R.L., and P.M.T. analyzed data; and A.R.A.L. and P.M.T. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1208797109/-/DCSupplemental.

  1. Ali Reza A. Ladiwalaa,
  2. Moumita Bhattacharyaa,
  3. Joseph M. Perchiaccaa,
  4. Ping Caob,
  5. Daniel P. Raleighb,
  6. Andisheh Abedinic,
  7. Ann Marie Schmidtc,
  8. Jobin Varkeyd,
  9. Ralf Langend, and
  10. Peter M. Tessiera,1
  1. aCenter for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180;
  2. bDepartment of Chemistry, Stony Brook University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794;
  3. cDiabetes Research Program, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016; and
  4. dZilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033

  1. Edited by David Eisenberg, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, and approved October 9, 2012 (received for review May 28, 2012)

Abstract

Antibodies hold significant potential for inhibiting toxic protein aggregation associated with conformational disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. However, near-stoichiometric antibody concentrations are typically required to completely inhibit protein aggregation. We posited that the molecular interactions mediating amyloid fibril formation could be harnessed to generate antibodies with potent antiaggregation. Here we report that grafting small amyloidogenic peptides (6–10 residues) into the complementarity-determining regions of a single-domain (VH) antibody yields potent domain antibody inhibitors of amyloid formation. Grafted AMyloid-Motif AntiBODIES (gammabodies) presenting hydrophobic peptides from Aβ (Alzheimer’s disease), α-Synuclein (Parkinson's disease), and islet amyloid polypeptide (type 2 diabetes) inhibit fibril assembly of each corresponding polypeptide at low substoichiometric concentrations (1:10 gammabody:monomer molar ratio). In contrast, sequence- and conformation-specific antibodies that were obtained via immunization are unable to prevent fibrillization at the same substoichiometric concentrations. Gammabodies prevent amyloid formation by converting monomers and/or fibrillar intermediates into small complexes that are unstructured and benign. We expect that our antibody design approach—which eliminates the need for immunization or screening to identify sequence-specific domain antibody inhibitors—can be readily extended to generate potent aggregation inhibitors of other amyloidogenic polypeptides linked to human disease.

  • beta-amyloid
  • misfolding
  • protein design
  • IAPP

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tessier{at}rpi.edu.

  • Author contributions: A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., D.P.R., A.A., J.V., R.L., and P.M.T. designed research; A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., A.A., and J.V. performed research; P.C., D.P.R., A.A., A.M.S., J.V., and R.L. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.R.A.L., M.B., J.M.P., P.C., D.P.R., A.A., J.V., R.L., and P.M.T. analyzed data; and A.R.A.L. and P.M.T. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1208797109/-/DCSupplemental.

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Domain antibody inhibitors of amyloid formation
Ali Reza A. Ladiwala, Moumita Bhattacharya, Joseph M. Perchiacca, Ping Cao, Daniel P. Raleigh, Andisheh Abedini, Ann Marie Schmidt, Jobin Varkey, Ralf Langen, Peter M. Tessier
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2012, 201208797; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208797109
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