Pre-clinical characterisation of E2814, a high-affinity antibody targeting the microtubule-binding repeat domain of tau for passive immunotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease

Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Jared Spidel¹  Earl Albone¹  James M. Staddon²  Yoichi Imaizumi²  Jane Gartlon²  Kavita Mistry²  Malcolm Roberts²  Madhurima Dey²  Sonia Talma²  Ioanna Sevastou³  Ezat Sajedi³  Kate Strand³  Rohan de Silva³  Naoki Tokuhara⁴  Hiroshi Ochiai⁴  Hirofumi Aoyagi⁴  Kanta Horie⁴  Zhi Zhou⁴  Muneo Aoyama⁴  Kishan Lal Agarwala⁴  Makoto Ogo⁴  Shigeru Akasofu⁴ 

[1] Eisai Inc.;Hatfield Research Laboratories, Eisai Limited;Reta Lila Weston Institute & Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology;Tsukuba Research Laboratories, Eisai Co.;

关键词: Tau;    Alzheimer;    tauopathy;    immunotherapy;    neurodegeneration;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40478-020-0884-2

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Tau deposition in the brain is a pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). During the course of these tauopathies, tau spreads throughout the brain via synaptically-connected pathways. Such propagation of pathology is thought to be mediated by tau species (“seeds”) containing the microtubule binding region (MTBR) composed of either three repeat (3R) or four repeat (4R) isoforms. The tau MTBR also forms the core of the neuropathological filaments identified in AD brain and other tauopathies. Multiple approaches are being taken to limit tau pathology, including immunotherapy with anti-tau antibodies. Given its key structural role within fibrils, specifically targetting the MTBR with a therapeutic antibody to inhibit tau seeding and aggregation may be a promising strategy to provide disease-modifying treatment for AD and other tauopathies. Therefore, a monoclonal antibody generating campaign was initiated with focus on the MTBR. Herein we describe the pre-clinical generation and characterisation of E2814, a humanised, high affinity, IgG1 antibody recognising the tau MTBR. E2814 and its murine precursor, 7G6, as revealed by epitope mapping, are antibodies bi-epitopic for 4R and mono-epitopic for 3R tau isoforms because they bind to sequence motif HVPGG. Functionally, both antibodies inhibited tau aggregation in vitro. They also immunodepleted a variety of MTBR-containing tau protein species. In an in vivo model of tau seeding and transmission, attenuation of deposition of sarkosyl-insoluble tau in brain could also be observed in response to antibody treatment. In AD brain, E2814 bound different types of tau filaments as shown by immunogold labelling and recognised pathological tau structures by immunohistochemical staining. Tau fragments containing HVPGG epitopes were also found to be elevated in AD brain compared to PSP or control. Taken together, the data reported here have led to E2814 being proposed for clinical development.

【 授权许可】

Unknown