Neutralization of Clostridium difficile toxin B with VHH-Fc fusions targeting the delivery and CROPs domains

PLoS One. 2018 Dec 12;13(12):e0208978. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208978. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

An increasing number of antibody-based therapies are being considered for controlling bacterial infections, including Clostridium difficile by targeting toxins A and B. In an effort to develop novel C. difficile immunotherapeutics, we previously isolated several single-domain antibodies (VHHs) capable of toxin A neutralization through recognition of the extreme C-terminal combined repetitive oligopeptides (CROPs) domain, but failed at identifying neutralizing VHHs that bound a similar region on toxin B. Here we report the isolation of a panel of 29 VHHs targeting at least seven unique epitopes on a toxin B immunogen composed of a portion of the central delivery domain and the entire CROPs domain. Despite monovalent affinities as high as KD = 70 pM, none of the VHHs tested were capable of toxin B neutralization; however, modest toxin B inhibition was observed with VHH-VHH dimers and to a much greater extent with VHH-Fc fusions, reaching the neutralizing potency of the recently approved anti-toxin B monoclonal antibody bezlotoxumab in in vitro assays. Epitope binning revealed that several VHH-Fcs bound toxin B at sites distinct from the region recognized by bezlotoxumab, while other VHH-Fcs partially competed with bezlotoxumab for toxin binding. Therefore, the VHHs described here are effective at toxin B neutralization when formatted as bivalent VHH-Fc fusions by targeting toxin B at regions both similar and distinct from the bezlotoxumab binding site.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / immunology
  • Antigen-Antibody Reactions
  • Bacterial Proteins / immunology*
  • Bacterial Toxins / immunology*
  • Binding Sites
  • Binding, Competitive
  • Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies
  • Camelids, New World
  • Clostridioides difficile / metabolism*
  • Dimerization
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments / metabolism
  • Neutralization Tests
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / chemistry
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / genetics
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / immunology*
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / metabolism

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Bacterial Toxins
  • Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies
  • Epitopes
  • Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments
  • Single-Domain Antibodies
  • toxB protein, Clostridium difficile
  • bezlotoxumab

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the National Research Council Canada. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.