Application of human FcRn transgenic mice as a pharmacokinetic screening tool of monoclonal antibody

Abstract

1. For drug discovery, useful screening tools are essential to select superior candidates. Here, we evaluated the applicability of transgenic mice expressing human neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) (hFcRn Tgm) as a pharmacokinetic screening tool of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and Fc-fusion proteins that overcomes the species difference in FcRn binding.

2. Marketed 11 mAbs and 2 Fc-fusion proteins were intravenously administered to hFcRn Tgm and WT mice. The half-lives in hFcRn Tgm and WT mice were compared with those in human obtained from literature. The linear half-lives in human and monkey were also calculated by nonlinear pharmacokinetic analysis. For comparison, correlations of half-lives between monkey and human were also evaluated.

3. The half-lives of mAbs and Fc-fusion proteins after intravenous administration ranged from 1.1 to 13.2 days in hFcRn Tgm and from 1.2 to 30.3 days in WT mice. The half-lives in human correlated more closely with those in hFcRn Tgm than in WT mice and monkey.

4. Our results suggest that hFcRn Tgm are a valuable and useful tool for pharmacokinetic screening of mAbs and Fc-fusion proteins in the preclinical stage. Furthermore, we believe that hFcRn Tgm are broadly applicable to preclinical pharmacokinetic screening of mAbs-based therapeutics.

• FcRn
• monoclonal antibody
• preclinical pharmacokinetic screening
• transgenic mice

Acknowledgements

We thank colleagues in Chugai Research Institute for Medical Science, Inc, and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd: M. Kawaharada, T. Yokoyama and T. Nishimura for carrying out the bioanalytical assays; T. Tachibe, H. Tateishi, Y. Kawase and K Jishage for breeding hFcRn Tgm.