Multi-paratopic VEGF decoy receptor have superior anti-tumor effects through anti-EGFRs and targeted anti-angiogenic activities

Abstract

Limitation of current anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) cancer therapy is transitory responses, inevitable relapses and its insufficient tumor-targeting. Thus, multifaceted approaches, including the development of bispecific antibodies and combination strategies targeting different pathways have been proposed as an alternative. Here, we developed a novel multi-paratopic VEGF decoy receptor, Cetuximab-VEGF-Grab and Trastuzumab-VEGF-Grab, by genetically fusing VEGF decoy receptor (VEGF-Grab) to a single chain Fv of anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) antibody (Cetuximab and Trastuzumab). These multi-paratopic VEGF decoy receptor, which recognize VEGF and EGFR family (EGFR or HER2), effectively suppressed both VEGF and EGFR pathways in vitro, to levels similar to those of the parental VEGF-Grab and anti-EGFR antibodies. In addition, the concurrent binding of multi-paratopic VEGF decoy receptor to VEGF and EGFR family enabled their specific localization to EGFR + tumor in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, Cetuximab-VEGF-Grab and Trastuzumab-VEGF-Grab exhibited the enhanced anti-tumor activities compared to VEGF-Grab in EGFR + tumor xenograft mouse model via anti-EGFR and the targeted anti-angiogenic activities. These results indicate that multi-paratopic VEGF decoy receptor can be a promising agent, combining tumor-targeted anti-angiogenic therapy with efficient blockade of proliferative signals mediated by EGFR family. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.