CATABOLISM OF THE MURINE IGG1 MOLECULE - EVIDENCE THAT BOTH CH2-CH3 DOMAIN INTERFACES ARE REQUIRED FOR PERSISTENCE OF IGG1 IN THE CIRCULATION OF MICE

Site-directed mutagenesis of a recombinant Fc-hinge fragment has previ ously been used to identify a region of the murine IgG1 molecule that controls catabolism, and this site encompasses amino acid residues at the interface of the CH2 and CH3 domains. In the current study the nat ure of this 'catabolic site' has been further analysed using recombina nt techniques. Fc-hinge, CH2-hinge, CH2 and CH3 fragments have been ex pressed in Escherichia coli, purified and analysed in pharmacokinetic studies in mice. The CH2-hinge has been analysed as both a monomer and dimer, and the dimer has a longer beta phase half-life (61.6 h) than the monomer (29.1 h). This suggests that two catabolic sites per Fc fr agment are required for serum persistence. The need for two functional sites per molecule has been confirmed by the analysis of a hybrid Fc- hinge fragment comprising a heterodimer of one Fc-hinge with the wild type (WT) IgG1 sequence and a mutant Fc-hinge with a defective catabol ic site (mutated at His310, Gln311, His433 and Asn434). This hybrid is cleared with a beta phase half-life of 37.9 h and this is significant ly shorter than that of the WT Fc-hinge fragment (82.9 h). In contrast to the CH2-hinge dimer, the CH3 domain is cleared rapidly (beta phase half-life of 21.3 h) indicating that the region of this domain (His43 3 and Asn434) previously identified as being involved in the control o f catabolism is not sufficient in the absence of the CH2 domain for th e serum persistence of an IgG fragment. The data extend our earlier ob servations concerning a region of the murine IgG1 molecule that is inv olved in the control of catabolism and have implications for the desig n of engineered antibodies for therapy.