Probing the limits of Q-tag bioconjugation of antibodies

Site-selective labelling of antibodies (Abs) can circumvent problems from heterogeneity of conventional conjugation. Here, we evaluate the industrially-applied chemoenzymatic ‘Q-tag’ strategy based on transglutaminase-mediated (TGase) amide-bond formation in the generation of 89Zr-radiolabelled anti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marculescu, C, Lakshminarayanan, A, Gault, J, Knight, JC, Folkes, LK, Spink, T, Robinson, CV, Vallis, K, Davis, BG, Cornelissen, B
Format: Journal article
Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2019
Description
Summary:Site-selective labelling of antibodies (Abs) can circumvent problems from heterogeneity of conventional conjugation. Here, we evaluate the industrially-applied chemoenzymatic ‘Q-tag’ strategy based on transglutaminase-mediated (TGase) amide-bond formation in the generation of 89Zr-radiolabelled antibody conjugates. We show that, despite previously suggested high regioselectivity of TGases, in the anti-Her2 Ab Herceptin™ more precise native MS indicates only 70–80% functionalization at the target site (Q298H), in competition with modification at other sites, such as Q3H critically close to the CDR1 region.