SAT-283 Generation of a Long-Acting Human Growth Hormone Receptor Antagonist by Site-Specific Pegylation

Abstract

Growth hormone (GH) is a peptide hormone that mediates actions through binding to a cell surface GH receptor (GHR), activating key signalling pathways including the JAK/STAT pathway. Excess GH secretion leads to acromegaly and tumoral expression has been implicated in cancer progression, suggesting that GH is also a potential target for anticancer therapy. Pegvisomant is the only GHR antagonist approved for clinical use. This antagonist is a PEGylated form of a mutated GH (B2036) that binds and blocks the receptor. Conjugation to polyethylene glycol (PEG) at multiple amine residues reduces in vitro bioactivity but extends the serum half-life resulting in improved in vivo bioactivity. We investigated whether we could generate a long-acting PEGylated GHR antagonist through site-specific conjugation of PEG. A codon optimised GHR antagonist, with an introduced free cysteine residue at amino acid site 144 (S144C), was generated by gene synthesis and recombinantly engineered by gene fusion with thioredoxin. Recombinant protein was expressed in E. coli and purified using a series of chromatographic methods. Antagonists were PEGylated using cysteine-specific conjugation chemistry. In vitro activity was determined using a Ba/F3-GHR viability assay, and in vivo pharmacokinetic and bioactivity was determined in mice. Fusion to thioredoxin was found to improve soluble protein expression at 30℃, resulting in dramatically increased yield. After a series of purification steps, including Ni-NTA, 3C protease cleavage and ion-exchange chromatography, a single band with a molecular mass of 22 kDa was observed by SDS-PAGE analysis. The recombinant antagonist was conjugated to 20 kDa or 30 kDa-PEG at amino acid site S144C. After purification, a single band with an effective molecular size of approximately 60 kDa (PEG-20kDa conjugate) or 70 kDa (PEG-30kDa conjugate) was observed by SDS-PAGE analysis. The unconjugated antagonist inhibited the proliferation of Ba/F3-GHR cells in a dose-dependent manner with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 10.1 ± 2.5 nM. Following PEGylation and purification, the PEG-20kDa and PEG-30kDa conjugates retained high in vitro bioactivity with an IC50 of 66.2 ± 3.8 nM and 106.1 ± 7.1 nM, respectively. Pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrated that PEGylation increased the serum half-life to approximately 15 hours in mice. Subcutaneous administration of the PEG-30kDa conjugate (10 mg/kg/day) reduced serum IGF-I levels in mice. In conclusion, we have generated a novel long-acting human GHR antagonist conjugate by introducing a free cysteine at a non-essential site of the antagonist and targeted attachment of PEG.