CMV neutralizing antigen binding proteins

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11230591-B2
Application number	US-201716094624-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2017
Priority date	Apr 20, 2016
Publication date	Jan 25, 2022
Grant date	Jan 25, 2022

Abstract

The present invention is directed to antigen binding proteins including, but not limited to, monoclonal antibodies and antigen binding fragments thereof, that specifically bind to and preferably neutralize human cytomegalovirus (CMV). The antigen binding proteins of the invention are useful as a prophylactic and/or therapeutic agent for preventing and/or treating CMV infections in a patient in need thereof. Also encompassed by the invention are pharmaceutical compositions comprising the antigen binding proteins of the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The invention further relates to methods of using the antigen binding proteins and pharmaceutical compositions of the invention for the prevention or treatment of CMV infection in patients in need thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An antibody or antigen binding fragment thereof that binds to human cytomegalovirus (CMV), wherein the antibody or antigen binding fragment is isolated or recombinant and comprises:
(A) an antibody or antigen binding fragment that binds to the pentameric gH complex site 1 selected from the group consisting of:
(1) a heavy chain variable domain complementary determining region (CDR) 1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a heavy chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, and a heavy chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3; and a light chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4, a light chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5, and a light chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6,
(2) a heavy chain variable domain complementary determining region (CDR) 1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 7, a heavy chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8, and a heavy chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 9; and a light chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, a light chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 11, and a light chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12, and
(B) a M252Y/S254T/T256E mutation.

2. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 , wherein the antibody or antigen binding fragment comprises:
a heavy chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 7, a heavy chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8, a heavy chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ TD NO: 9, a light chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, a light chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ TD NO: 11, and a light chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12.

3. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 , wherein the antibody or antigen binding fragment comprises:
an antibody or antigen binding fragment comprising: a heavy chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a heavy chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, a heavy chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3, a light chain variable domain CDR1 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4, a light chain variable domain CDR2 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5, and a light chain variable domain CDR3 comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6.

4. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 , comprising a variable heavy chain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 119 and a variable light chain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 121.

5. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 4 , wherein the heavy chain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 135 or SEQ ID NO: 139 and the light chain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 137 or SEQ ID NO: 141.

6. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 5 , comprising a variable heavy chain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 123 and a variable light chain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 125.

7. The antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 , wherein the heavy chain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 143 or SEQ ID NO: 147 and the light chain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 145 or SEQ ID NO: 149.

8. An isolated nucleic acid encoding an antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 .

9. The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 8 , wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises a sequence of nucleotides as set forth in any of SEQ ID NOS: 64 to 76 or SEQ ID NOS: 90 to 101.

10. The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 8 , wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises a sequence of nucleotides as set forth in any of SEQ ID NOS: 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, or 124.

11. The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 8 , wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises a sequence of nucleotides as set forth in any of SEQ ID NOS: 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 146, or 148.

12. An expression vector comprising the isolated nucleic acid of claim 8 operably linked to a promoter.

13. An isolated host cell comprising the expression vector of claim 12 .

14. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent.

15. A method of treating a CMV infection in a subject comprising administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of the antibody or antigen binding fragment of claim 1 .

16. A method of conferring passive immunity to a CMV infection in a patient, the method comprising administering to the patient one or more antibodies or antigen binding fragments according to claim 1 .

17. A method of producing an antibody or antigen binding fragment:
(a) culturing a host cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding the heavy chain and/or the light chain of any one of the antibodies or antigen binding fragments of claim 1 under conditions wherein the polynucleotide is expressed; and
(b) optionally, recovering the antibody or antigen binding fragment from the host cell and/or culture medium.

Assignees

• Merck Sharp & Dohme
• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Fu Tong-Ming
• Tang Aimin
• Wang Dai
• An Zhiqiang
• Zhang Ningyan
• Ha Sha

Classifications

• C07K16/089

  Cytomegalovirus · CPC title

• C07K2317/51

  Complete heavy chain or Fd fragment, i.e. VH + CH1 · CPC title

• C07K2317/524

  CH2 domain · CPC title

• C07K2317/34

  Identification of a linear epitope shorter than 20 amino acid residues or of a conformational epitope defined by amino acid residues · CPC title

• C07K2317/76

  Antagonist effect on antigen, e.g. neutralization or inhibition of binding · CPC title