Construction and characterization of a bispecific diabody for retargeting T cells to human carcinomas

We describe the construction of a recombinant bispecific antibody fragment in the diabody format with specificity for both the well-established human pancarcinoma associated target antigen EGP2 (epithelial glycoprotein 2, also known as the CO17-1A antigen or KSA) and the CD3ϵ chain of human TCR/CD3 complex. The murine anti-EGP2 (MOC31) single chain variable fragment (scFv) and the humanized anti-CD3 (Ucht1v9) scFv were cast into a diabody format (designated Dia5v9) using a short 5 amino acid Gly-Ser linker between immunoglobulin heavy-chain and light-chain variable domains. Purification of the poly-histidine tagged Dia5v9 was achieved from extracts of protease deficient Escerichia coli by IMAC chromatography. The Dia5v9 diabody showed strong binding to both EGP2 and CD3 in transfected cells. The in vitro efficacy of Dia5v9 in mediating tumor cell lysis by interleukin-2 activated human T cells appeared to be similar to that of the hybrid-hybridoma–derived BsF(ab′)₂ Bis1 (anti-EGP2/anti-CD3) in a standard 4-hr ⁵¹Cr-release assay. This small and partially humanized recombinant bispecific antibody fragment may be valuable for T-cell–based immunotherapeutical treatment protocols, retargeting activated peripheral blood T lymphocytes to lyse various human carcinomas in vivo. Int. J. Cancer 76:232–239, 1998.© 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.