University of California

Alexander J Martinko

James A Wells

Juan E Diaz

Michael J Hornsby

Zachary B Hill

Chemically induced dimerizers (AbCIDs) have emerged as one of the most powerful tools to artificially regulate signaling pathways in cells; however, no facile method to identify or design these systems currently exists. The present invention provides a methodology to rapidly generate antibody-based chemically induced dimerizers (AbCIDs) from known small-molecule-protein complexes by selecting for synthetic antibodies that recognize the chemical epitope created by the bound small molecule. Success of this strategy is demonstrated by generating ten chemically-inducible antibodies against the BCL-xL/ABT-737 complex. Three of the antibodies are highly selective for the BCL-xL/ABT-737 complex over BCL-xL alone. Two exemplary important cellular applications of AbCIDs are demonstrated by applying them intracellularly to induce CRISPRa-mediated gene expression and extracellularly to regulate CAR T-cell activation with the small molecule, ABT-737. ABT-737 is not toxic at the concentrations used to activate AbCIDs in cells. AbCIDs provided by this invention are new and orthogonal AbCIDs, expanding the limited toolbox of available CIDs.

Antibody chemically induced dimerizer (AbCID) as molecular switches for regulating cellular therapies

The disclosure is related to antibodies and antibody fragments that specifically bind the CUB domain-containing protein 1 (CDCP1) and their methods and uses in treating and detecting cancers.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Alexander J Martinko