Toward a Suite of Coarse-Grained Models for Molecular Simulation of Monoclonal Antibodies and Therapeutic Proteins

Author(s):  
Hassan Shahfar ◽  
James K. Forder ◽  
Christopher J. Roberts
Antibodies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Iftekhar Mahmood

Allometric scaling can be used for the extrapolation of pharmacokinetic parameters from adults to children. The objective of this study was to predict clearance of therapeutic proteins (monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and non-antibody proteins) allometrically in preterm neonates to adolescents. There were 13 monoclonal antibodies, seven polyclonal antibodies, and nine therapeutic proteins (non-antibodies) in the study. The clearance of therapeutic proteins was predicted using the age dependent exponents (ADE) model and then compared with the observed clearance values. There were in total 29 therapeutic proteins in this study with 75 observations. The number of observations with ≤30%, ≤50%, and >50% prediction error was 60 (80%), 72 (96%), and 3 (4%), respectively. Overall, the predicted clearance values of therapeutic proteins in children was good. The allometric method proposed in this manuscript can be used to select first-in-pediatric dose of therapeutic proteins in pediatric clinical trials.


Soft Matter ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (38) ◽  
pp. 6770-6783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua E. Condon ◽  
Arthi Jayaraman

Using coarse-grained simulations, we study the effect of varying oligonucleic acid (ONA) backbone flexibility, ONA charge and star polymer architecture on structure and thermodynamics of ONA–star polymer conjugates assembly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Gattinger ◽  
Shiva Izadi ◽  
Clemens Grünwald-Gruber ◽  
Somanath Kallolimath ◽  
Alexandra Castilho

The potential therapeutic value of many proteins is ultimately limited by their rapid in vivo clearance. One strategy to limit clearance by metabolism and excretion, and improving the stability of therapeutic proteins, is their fusion to the immunoglobulin fragment crystallizable region (Fc). The Fc region plays multiple roles in (i) dimerization for the formation of “Y”-shaped structure of Ig, (ii) Fc-mediated effector functions, (iii) extension of serum half-life, and (iv) a cost-effective purification tag. Plants and in particular Nicotiana benthamiana have proven to be suitable expression platforms for several recombinant therapeutic proteins. Despite the enormous success of their use for the production of full-length monoclonal antibodies, the expression of Fc-fused therapeutic proteins in plants has shown limitations. Many Fc-fusion proteins expressed in plants show different degrees of instability resulting in high amounts of Fc-derived degradation products. To address this issue, we used erythropoietin (EPO) as a reporter protein and evaluated the efforts to enhance the expression of full-length EPO-Fc targeted to the apoplast of N. benthamiana. Our results show that the instability of the fusion protein is independent from the Fc origin or IgG subclass and from the peptide sequence used to link the two domains. We also show that a similar instability occurs upon the expression of individual heavy chains of monoclonal antibodies and ScFv-Fc that mimic the “Y”-shape of antibodies but lack the light chain. We propose that in this configuration, steric hindrance between the protein domains leads to physical instability. Indeed, mutations of critical residues located on the Fc dimerization interface allowed the expression of fully stable EPO monomeric Fc-fusion proteins. We discuss the limitations of Fc-fusion technology in N. benthamiana transient expression systems and suggest strategies to optimize the Fc-based scaffolds on their folding and aggregation resistance in order to improve the stability.


Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo-Ran Zhao ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Xinghua Shi

We study the diffusion of rod-shape nanocarriers with different rigidities and aspect ratios in cross-linked network using coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) simulations. The diffusivities of nanorods increase as the reduction...


2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (8) ◽  
pp. 2203-2212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenkoh S. Endoh ◽  
Toshihiro Kawakatsu ◽  
Florian Müller-Plathe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rudzinski ◽  
Tristan Bereau

Coarse-grained molecular simulation models have provided immense, often general, insight into the complex behavior of condensed-phase systems, but suffer from a lost connection to the true dynamical properties of the underlying system. In general, the physics that is built into a model shapes the free-energy landscape, restricting the attainable static and kinetic properties. In this work, we perform a detailed investigation into the property interrelationships resulting from these restrictions, for a representative system of the helix-coil transition. Inspired by high-throughput studies, we systematically vary force-field parameters and monitor their structural, kinetic, and thermodynamic properties. The focus of our investigation is a simple coarse-grained model, which accurately represents the underlying structural ensemble, i.e., effectively avoids sterically-forbidden configurations. As a result of this built-in physics, we observe a rather large restriction in the topology of the networks characterizing the simulation kinetics. When screening across force-field parameters, we find that structurally-accurate models also best reproduce the kinetics, suggesting structural-kinetic relationships for these models. Additionally, an investigation into thermodynamic properties reveals a link between the cooperativity of the transition and the network topology at a single reference temperature.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document