Abstract 5005: AGEN1884 and AGEN2041: Two functionally distinct anti-CTLA-4 antagonist antibodies
Authors: Drouin Elise E. , Gonzalez Ana , Tang Hao , Savitsky David , Gombos Randi , Waight Jeremy , Duckless Benjamin , Schuster Andrea , Wang Lili , Lin Shiwen , Mundt Cornelia , Ritter Gerd , Merghoub Taha , Draleau Kyle , Wolchok Jedd , Levey Daniel , Buell Jennifer , van Dijk Marc , Goldberg John M. , Stein Robert , Wilson Nicholas S. 
Published: July 2016

CTLA-4 is an important negative regulator of T cell function. Together with CD28, these two co-receptors exemplify a co-inhibitory/stimulatory system that is critical in the regulation of T cell immune responses. Key to this regulatory system are the shared ligands, CD80 and CD86, whose engagement determines whether T cells receive stimulatory (CD28) or inhibitory (CTLA-4) signals. Pre-clinical and clinical studies have shown that anti-CTLA-4 antibodies can enhance tumor-specific immunity through a combination of mechanisms including: 1) blockade and or displacement of CD80/CD86 binding to CTLA-4, leading to CD28 activation; 2) prevention of the trans-endocytosis of CD80/CD86 from the surface of antigen presenting cells by CTLA-4 expressing regulatory T cells; and 3) the selective depletion of CTLA-4 expressing intratumoral regulatory T cells by an Fcγ receptor-mediated mechanism.

AGEN1884 and AGEN2041, two fully human anti-CTLA-4 antibodies identified using the Retrocyte Display™ platform, are being developed for the treatment of advanced malignancies. The antibodies share heavy and light chain complementarity determining regions (CDRs), but differ in their IgG Fc region (AGEN1884, an IgG1, and AGEN2041, an IgG2). AGEN1884 and AGEN2041 selectively bind to human and cynomolgus monkey CTLA-4 with low single digit nM affinity. Further, both antibodies bind CTLA-4 expressed on T cells, and potently block engagement of CD80 and CD86, leading to enhanced T cell responsiveness. In a T cell-dependent antibody response (TDAR) study in cynomolgus monkeys, administration of a vaccine in combination with either AGEN1884 or AGEN2041 augmented the antibody response to the vaccine antigen. This finding demonstrates that both antibodies are functional in non-human primates, and exemplifies their utility in promoting immunity to co-administered antigens in patients, such as therapeutic cancer vaccines. Consistent with this, an anti-mouse CTLA-4 antibody produced potent tumor regressions in combination with a heat-shock protein-based vaccine (a surrogate vaccine resembling Prophage™ heat shock protein-based autologous vaccine).

The distinct IgG backbones of AGEN1884 and AGEN2041 enable distinct optimal effector functions, such as the ability to mediate antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis (ADCP). We anticipate that these differences in effector function may be exploited in certain tumors depending on immune cell composition. Taken together, the biochemical and functional attributes of AGEN1884 and AGEN2041 are ideally suited for clinical development, both as single agents and also in combination with other immune education approaches, such as cancer vaccines and immunomodulatory antibodies or small molecule therapies.

Citation Format: Elise E. Drouin, Ana Gonzalez, Hao Tang, David Savitsky, Randi Gombos, Jeremy Waight, Benjamin Duckless, Andrea Schuster, Lili Wang, Shiwen Lin, Cornelia Mundt, Gerd Ritter, Taha Merghoub, Kyle Draleau, Jedd Wolchok, Daniel Levey, Jennifer Buell, Marc van Dijk, John M. Goldberg, Robert Stein, Nicholas S. Wilson. AGEN1884 and AGEN2041: Two functionally distinct anti-CTLA-4 antagonist antibodies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 5005.