A Non-immunogenic Bivalent d-Protein Potently Inhibits Retinal Vascularization and Tumor Growth.
Marinec, P.S., Landgraf, K.E., Uppalapati, M., Chen, G., Xie, D., Jiang, Q., Zhao, Y., Petriello, A., Deshayes, K., Kent, S.B.H., Ault-Riche, D., Sidhu, S.S.(2021) ACS Chem Biol 16: 548-556
- PubMed: 33621466 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.1c00017
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7LL8, 7LL9 - PubMed Abstract: 
We report a general approach to engineering multivalent d-proteins with antibody-like activities in vivo . Mirror-image phage display and structure-guided design were utilized to create a d-protein that uses receptor mimicry to antagonize vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A). Selections against the d-protein form of VEGF-A using phage-displayed libraries of two different domain scaffolds yielded two proteins that bound distinct receptor interaction sites on VEGF-A. X-ray crystal structures of the d-protein/VEGF-A complexes were used to guide affinity maturation and to construct a heterodimeric d-protein VEGF-A antagonist with picomolar activity. The d-protein VEGF-A antagonist prevented vascular leakage in a rabbit eye model of wet age-related macular degeneration and slowed tumor growth in the MC38 syngeneic mouse tumor model with efficacies comparable to those of approved antibody drugs, and in contrast with antibodies, the d-protein was non-immunogenic during treatment and following subcutaneous immunizations.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Reflexion Pharmaceuticals, Incline Village, Nevada 89451, United States.