Antibody-based immunotherapies have shown a wide range of applications in a variety of cancer types. Antibodies that mimic the ability of T cells to recognize MHC presenting peptides, also known as T cell receptor mimic (TCRm) antibodies, combine the ability to target specific pMHC complexes with the favorable properties of antibodies that offer significant advantages over traditional antibodies.

Creative BioMart offers solutions to develop antibodies to target these pMHC complexes, select immunotherapeutic targets and design immunogens by identifying and measuring tumor-associated antigenic epitopes.

pMHC Complex Antigen Class

Exogenous and endogenous intracellular proteins can be processed and produce short peptides to form complexes with MHC molecules that are presented on the cell surface. pMHC complexes can act as tumor-associated antigens targeted by TCRm antibodies. Depending on the bound peptide, pMHC complexes can be classified into, tumor-associated viral antigens, tumor-associated autoantigens and neoantigens.

Fig.1 Cell surface-presented pMHC antigens (Xu Y, et al., 2019)

Viral proteins in virus-associated cancers can be presented to the cell surface as tumor-associated viral antigens, normal proteins aberrantly expressed in tumor cells are tumor-associated autoantigens, and neoantigens are tumor-specific antigens that arise due to genetic mutations. A critical first step in the current development of antibody strategies against pMHC complexes is the identification of tumor-associated antigens and the design of pMHC complexes.

Target Antigen Discovery and pMHC Complex Preparation

Our in-depth study of MHC-presenting tumor-associated antigenic peptides assists in the discovery and evaluation of new pMHC epitopes for your antibody development program.

• Identification of tumor-associated antigens
  We provide antigen identification services. We focus on isolation of tumor-specific CTL, identification and screening of tumor-associated antigens by immunological methods, gene sequencing, mass spectrometry and other techniques to identify the genes encoding the relevant antigens.
• Epitope prediction of tumor-associated antigens
  We provide algorithm prediction and validation services for epitopes. Use algorithmic epitope prediction, combining genome sequencing and bioinformatics techniques to predict potential epitopes in tumor-associated antigens, and validates them by MHC and peptide binding assays and mass spectrometry.
• Design and generation of pMHC complexes as antigens
  We provide design and manufacturing services for MHC complexes for antibody generation. Bacterial expression constructs that can encode MHC are used to induce protein expression in culture media to generate pMHC complexes.

Our Featured Advantages

• One-stop services for the design, generation, evaluation and validation of pMHC complexes for antibody discovery, contributing to the ongoing development of TCRm antibodies.
• MHC molecular datasets as well as improved MHC epitope algorithms and discovery tools could greatly specific future advances in TCRm antibodies.
• Extensive studies on the structure and presentation of MHC-restricted epitopes favorably support target selection, antibody design.

TCRm antibodies recognize highly tumor-specific MHC-restricted peptides, which are important targets for antibodies. Creative BioMart's powerful biotechnology and information analysis capabilities enable our customers to gain in-depth and comprehensive knowledge and identification of tumor-associated antigens for precise oncology antibody therapy development. Please contact us to initiate and advance a TCRm antibody development program together.

References

• Xu Y, et al. "T-cell receptor mimic (TCRm) antibody therapeutics against intracellular proteins." Antibody Therapeutics (2019), 2(1):22-32.
• Iva, T, et al. "Therapeutic Antibodies against Intracellular Tumor Antigens." Frontiers in Immunology (2017), 8:1001.