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Rescuing AAV gene transfer from neutralizing antibodies with an IgG-degrading enzyme
Zachary C. Elmore, Daniel K. Oh, Katherine E. Simon, Marco M. Fanous, Aravind Asokan
Zachary C. Elmore, Daniel K. Oh, Katherine E. Simon, Marco M. Fanous, Aravind Asokan
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Resource and Technical Advance Immunology Therapeutics

Rescuing AAV gene transfer from neutralizing antibodies with an IgG-degrading enzyme

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Abstract

Preexisting humoral immunity to recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors restricts the treatable patient population and efficacy of human gene therapies. Approaches to clear neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), such as plasmapheresis and immunosuppression, are either ineffective or cause undesirable side effects. Here, we describe a clinically relevant strategy to rapidly and transiently degrade NAbs before AAV administration using an IgG-degrading enzyme (IdeZ). We demonstrate that recombinant IdeZ efficiently cleaved IgG in dog, monkey, and human antisera. Prophylactically administered IdeZ cleaved circulating human IgG in mice and prevented AAV neutralization in vivo. In macaques, a single intravenous dose of IdeZ rescued AAV transduction by transiently reversing seropositivity. Importantly, IdeZ efficiently cleaved NAbs and rescued AAV transduction in mice passively immunized with individual human donor sera representing a diverse population. Our antibody clearance approach presents a potentially new paradigm for expanding the prospective patient cohort and improving efficacy of AAV gene therapy.

Authors

Zachary C. Elmore, Daniel K. Oh, Katherine E. Simon, Marco M. Fanous, Aravind Asokan

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Figure 3

IdeZ rescues AAV9 liver transduction in mice passively immunized with individual human sera.

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IdeZ rescues AAV9 liver transduction in mice passively immunized with in...
(A) Schematic demonstrating experimental timeline of human serum, IdeZ, and AAV9-Luc injections. Eighteen human serum samples were tested for their ability to neutralize AAV9 transduction in the liver. Two mice per human serum sample were used for the study, and both mice were injected IP with human serum. Mice were then injected IV 72 hours later with PBS (black bars) or recombinant GST-IdeZ (2.5 mg/kg, gray bars) and subsequently injected IV 72 hours post–IdeZ treatment with AAV9-Luc (1 × 1013 vg/kg). Liver transduction levels were analyzed 4 weeks postinjection. (B) Luciferase transgene expression levels were analyzed 4 weeks postinjection in the livers of passively immunized mice treated with PBS (black bar, black circle) or prophylactically with IdeZ (gray bar, black triangle). Transduction levels were normalized to nonimmunized mice that were injected with AAV9-Luc at the same dose and represented as percentage of control. Each bar represents the average of a technical duplicate from a single animal. (C) Relative liver transduction efficiency of AAV9-Luc in the entire cohort of mice immunized with human sera treated with PBS control (circle) or IdeZ (triangle). Biodistribution of AAV9 vector genomes in the liver for mice passively immunized with individual human serum samples (D) and the entire cohort (E). Vector genome copy numbers per cell were calculated based on normalization to copies of the lamin B2 housekeeping gene. Each bar represents the average of a technical duplicate from a single animal. Significance was determined by the nonparametric Mann-Whitney rank test. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001.

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ISSN 2379-3708

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