Glycosylated antibodies

Abstract

The invention provides an antibody comprising human IgG1 or IgG3 heavy chain constant domains that are glycosylated with a sugar chain at Asn297, said antibody being characterized in that the amount of fucose within said sugar chain is at least 99%, and in addition the amount of NGNA is 1% or less and/or the amount of N-terminal alpha 1,3 galactose is 1% or less, and uses thereof.

1 . A purified antibody that binds to the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor IGF-IR, comprising human IgG1 or IgG3 heavy chain constant domains wherein the heavy chain constant domains are glycosylated with a sugar chain at Asn297, wherein the sugar chain comprises at least 99.4% fucose, wherein if the sugar chain comprises N-glycolylneuraminic acid, the amount of N-glycolylneuraminic acid is 1% or less of the sugar chain and wherein if the sugar chain comprises N-terminal alpha-1,3-galactose, the amount of N-terminal alpha-1,3-galactose is 1% or less of the sugar chain. 
     
     
         2 . The antibody according to  claim 1 , wherein the amount of N-glycolylneuraminic acid is 0.5% or less of the sugar chain. 
     
     
         3 . The antibody according to  claim 1 , wherein the amount of N-terminal alpha-1,3-galactose is 0.5% or less of the sugar chain. 
     
     
         4 . The antibody according to  claim 1 , wherein the antibody is a chimeric, humanized or human antibody. 
     
     
         5 . The antibody according to  claim 1 , wherein the antibody shows one or more properties selected from the group consisting of:
 a) shows a ratio of IC 50  values of inhibition of the binding of IGF-I to IGF-IR to the inhibition of binding of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) to IGF-IR of 1:3 to 3:1,   b) inhibits, at a concentration of 5 nM, at least 80% of the IGF-IR phosphorylation in a cellular phosphorylation assay using HT29 cells in a medium containing 0.5% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum when compared to such an assay without said antibody.   c) shows no IGF-IR stimulating activity measured as PKB phosphorylation at a concentration of 10 μM in a cellular phosphorylation assay using 3T3 cells providing 400,000 to 600,000 molecules IGF-IR per cell in a medium containing 0.5% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS) when compared to such an assay without said antibody.   
     
     
         6 . The antibody according to  claim 1 , wherein the antibody has an affinity of about 10 −13  to 10 −9  M (K D ) for IGF-IR. 
     
     
         7 . The antibody according to  claim 1  produced by the CHO cell line hu MAb<IGF-1R>B1-4E10 — 9-16 deposited with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen and Zellkulturen GmbH, Germany, under Accession No. DSM ACC 2795. 
     
     
         8 . A pharmaceutical composition comprising an antibody according to  claim 1  and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. 
     
     
         9 . A pharmaceutical composition comprising an antibody according to  claim 7  and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. 
     
     
         10 . A CHO cell that recombinantly expresses an antibody that when purified is an antibody according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         11 . A CHO cell that recombinantly expresses an antibody that when purified is an antibody according to  claim 7 .