1. Introduction
Ephrin receptors (Eph) have a single transmembrane domain and are grouped into A and B categories based on their extracellular domains, which determine the binding affinity for ligands [
1,
2]. The interaction of Eph with the membrane-bound ephrin-A family ligands mediates communication between cells of the same or different types, and contact-dependent bidirectional (forward and reverse) signaling spreads from adjacent cells to neighboring cells [
3,
4,
5]. The bidirectional signaling of the Eph system plays critical roles in tissue development, homeostasis, and regeneration.
EphA2 has been studied extensively in tumor development and progression [
6]. Abundant expression of EphA2 has been reported in various cancers such as prostate [
7], lung [
8], esophageal [
9], colorectal [
10], cervical [
11], ovarian [
12], skin [
13], and breast cancers [
14]. It is correlated with the malignancy [
15]. EphA2 expression is associated with poor prognosis, elevated metastatic potential, and reduced patient survival [
16,
17]. Notably, the expression of EphA2 protein and mRNA was correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, and histologic grade of breast cancer [
18]. Therefore, EphA2 is a promising target in cancer therapy because of its relatively low levels in most normal adult tissues [
3].
Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy targeting EphA2 has been developed based on evidence that ligand stimulation, such as ephrin A1, is sufficient to induce EphA2 degradation through internalization [
19]. For instance, anti-EphA2 mAbs (EA2 and B233) promoted EphA2 phosphorylation and degradation in cancer cells, and administration of EA2 mAb significantly decreased tumor growth in xenograft model [
20]. In addition, a single-chain Fv of anti-EphA2 mAb (D2) blocked the ligand interaction in COS-7 cells and induced apoptosis in the lymphoma cell line [
21]. An anti-EphA2 mAb (SHM16) does not inhibit the interaction between ephrin A1 and EphA2 [
22]. However, SHM16 stimulates the internalization of EphA2 and inhibits malignant features of melanoma A375 cells. A humanized anti-EphA2 mAb (DS-8895a) was developed as a therapeutic mAb with antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Treatment with DS-8895a inhibited tumor growth of EphA2-positive human breast and gastric cancers in xenograft model [
23]. Anti-EphA2 mAb-based immunotherapy using chimeric antigen receptor-T cells has also been developed and is undergoing clinical trials [
24,
25].
We have developed various mAbs against membrane proteins using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method [
26,
27,
28,
29,
30,
31,
32,
33]. The mAbs obtained by this method are prone to recognize conformational epitopes and are suitable for flow cytometry. Furthermore, some of these mAbs are also available for western blot, immunocytochemistry (ICC), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). This allows simultaneous contributions to the development of both therapy and diagnosis. Among the anti-EphA2 mAbs developed to date, SHM16 is known to recognize intact structures on the cell surface, while mAbs such as D4A2 are suitable only for western blot and IHC [
34,
35]. Anti-EphA2 mAbs available for flow cytometry, western blot, ICC, and IHC have not been reported (
Supplementary Table S1). This study employed the CBIS method to generate a highly versatile anti-EphA2 mAb.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Cell Lines
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1, P3X63Ag8.U1 (P3U1), human glioblastoma LN229, and human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA). The human pancreas cancer MIA PaCa-2 and colorectal cancer HCT-15 were obtained from the Cell Resource Center at Tohoku University (Miyagi, Japan). The human lung cancer PC-10 was obtained from Immuno-Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd. (Gunma, Japan).
MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, HCT-15, LN229, and LN229/EphA2 were maintained in DMEM. CHO-K1, CHO/EphA2, P3U1, and PC-10 were maintained in RPMI-1640 medium (Nacalai Tesque, Inc., Kyoto, Japan). The media were supplied with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA) and 100 U/mL penicillin, 100 μg/mL streptomycin, 0.25 μg/mL amphotericin B (Nacalai Tesque).
2.2. Plasmid Construction and Establishment of Stable Transfectants
The genes encoding human EPHA2 (NM_004431) was subcloned into the pCAG-Ble vector (FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation, Osaka, Japan). The EphA2 overexpressed CHO-K1 and LN229 were generated using anti-EphA2 mAb, SHM16 (mouse IgG2b, κ, BioLegend, San Diego, CA, USA) and a SH800 cell sorter (Sony Corporation, Tokyo, Japan).
2.3. Development of Hybridomas
The female BALB/cAJcl mice were purchased from CLEA Japan (Tokyo, Japan). The mice were intraperitoneally immunized with LN229/EphA2 cells (1×108 cells/injection) and Alhydrogel adjuvant 2% (InvivoGen). After four additional immunizations with LN229/EphA2 cells, the hybridomas were generated by fusing the spleen cells with P3U1 cells using polyethylene glycol 1500 (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA).
2.4. Flow Cytometric Analysis
Cells were detached and harvested using 1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA; Nacalai Tesque, Inc.) to prevent enzymatic degradation of cell surface proteins. The cells were washed with 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, blocking buffer) and stained with mAbs by incubating for 30 minutes at 4°C. Subsequently, the cells were stained with Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (2,000-fold dilution; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA) for 30 minutes at 4°C. The data were collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer and analyzed using FlowJo software (BD Biosciences, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA).
2.5. Determination of Dissociation Constant (KD) by Flow Cytometry
CHO/EphA2 and MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with serially diluted Ea2Mab-7 and SHM16 (0.005–10 μg/mL). Subsequently, the cells were stained with Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (200-fold dilution) for 30 minutes at 4°C. The data were collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer and analyzed using FlowJo software. The fitting binding isotherms determined the dissociation constant (KD) values to built-in one-side binding models of GraphPad Prism 6 (GraphPad Software, Inc. La Jolla, CA, USA).
2.6. Western Blot Analysis
Whole cell lysate (10 μg of protein per lane) was separated into 5–20% polyacrylamide gels (FJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation) and transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany). After blocking with 4% skim milk (Nacalai Tesque, Inc.) in PBST, the membranes were incubated with 1 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7, SHM16, or an anti-β-actin mAb (clone AC-15; Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, St. Louis, MO, USA). Subsequently, they were incubated with anti-mouse IgG conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (1,000-fold dilution; Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA). Chemiluminescence signals were developed with ImmunoStar LD (FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation) or Pierce ECL Plus Western Blotting Substrate (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) and detected using a Sayaca-Imager (DRC Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan).
2.7. Immunocytochemical Analysis (ICC)
Cell blocks were prepared using iPGell (Genostaff Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). The paraffin-embedded cell sections were autoclaved in a citrate buffer (pH 6.0; Nichirei Biosciences, Inc., Tokyo, Japan). After blocking using the SuperBlock T20 Blocking Buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), the sections were incubated with 10 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7, and then treated with the Envision+ Kit (Agilent Technologies Inc.). Color was developed using 3,3’-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride (Agilent Technologies Inc.), and counterstaining was performed using hematoxylin (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany).
2.8. Immunohistochemical Analysis (IHC)
Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast invasive ductal carcinoma tissue array (Cat. No.: BR729) containing 71 cases was purchased (FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation). The section was stained with Ea2Mab-7 (10 μg/mL) using BenchMark ULTRA PLUS (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN).
4. Discussion
In this study, we established a novel anti-EphA2 mAb, Ea
2Mab-7, which is the first mAb available to various applications, including flow cytometry (Figs. 2–4), western blot (
Figure 5), ICC (
Figure 6), and IHC (
Figure 7). We established twelve clones during the establishment of anti-EphA2 mAbs by the CBIS method. However, Ea
2Mab-7 is the sole mAb available to all applications. Although SHM16 was established by the immunization of A375 melanoma cells into mice [
22], SHM16 was not available to western blot (
Supplementary Figure 1). Therefore, the identification of the epitope of Ea
2Mab-7 is essential to reveal the structural basis of antigen recognition by Ea
2Mab-7. We have developed the PA insertion for epitope mapping (PAMAP) and RIEDL insertion for epitope mapping (REMAP) to determine the epitope of mAbs [
36,
37,
38,
39,
40]. The epitopes of anti-mouse CD39 mAb (C
39Mab-1) could be determined using both REMAP and PAMAP methods [
36]. Furthermore, the epitopes of anti-CD44 mAbs (C
44Mab-5 and C
44Mab-46) [
37,
38] and anti-EGFR mAbs (EMab-51 and EMab-134) [
39,
40] could be determined using the REMAP method. Therefore, further studies are required to determine the epitope of Ea
2Mab-7. If Ea
2Mab-7 possesses the linear and non-glycosylated epitope, it may contribute to developing highly versatile mAbs to other Eph families using peptide immunization of the corresponding sequence.
Interaction between EphA2 and ephrin-As anchored on the plasma membranes of adjacent cells induces the large oligomeric complexes that mediate bidirectional signaling [
5]. In contrast, the ephrin-A-independent non-canonical signaling of EphA2 plays a critical role in cancer progression [
3]. The serine-threonine kinases of the RSK family [
41] and AKT [
42] can induce the phosphorylation of EphA2 (S897), which mediates oncogenic transformation [
43], metabolic reprogramming [
44], invasion [
45], and resistance to therapies [
8,
46]. Furthermore, phosphorylated EphA2 (S897) has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients [
47]. Therefore, anti-EphA2 mAbs can target cancer cells, which activate the non-canonical EphA2 signaling. To target the EphA2-positive cancer cells by Ea
2Mab-7 (IgG
1), we should generate a class-switched mouse IgG
2a mAb from mouse IgG
1. Furthermore, we previously produced defucosylated IgG
2a type mAbs to enhance the ADCC and
in vivo antitumor effect in mouse xenograft models [
48,
49]. The class-switched and defucosylated type Ea
2Mab-7 could contribute to treating EphA2-positive cancers in preclinical studies.
Focusing on the detailed signal intensities, different correlations are observed between applications. For instance, the western blot signal did not wholly match the flow cytometry signal intensity (
Figure 3A and
Figure 5A). Clear signals for CHO/EphA2, MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, and HCT-15 cells were detected in both flow cytometry and western blot. However, weak or nearly undetectable signals were observed in PC-10 and LN229 cells in the western blot, while clear signals were detected in flow cytometry. Western blot shows the total amount of EphA2 expression in whole cells. At the same time, flow cytometry indicates the amount of EphA2 on the cell surface, suggesting that intracellular and extracellular levels of EphA2 differ depending on the cell line. This discrepancy may help explain the malignancy of cancer cells, as the abundant expression of EphA2 on the cell surface enables the triggering of non-canonical signaling that promotes cancer cell growth [
3,
19,
50]. Additionally, compared to CHO/EphA2 cells, the signals of the endogenously expressed cell lines show a slightly smaller molecular weight in western blot, which may be due to the alternative splicing of EphA2 [
51]. Therefore, mAbs, available for various applications, such as western blot and flow cytometry, provide significant advantages in estimating intracellular and extracellular protein levels and detecting protein processing.
Ea
2Mab-7 can detect exogenous and endogenous EphA2 in ICC and IHC analysis (Figs. 6 and 7). We could detect apparent membranous staining in the CHO/EphA2 section (Figs. 6). In contrast, IHC analysis of the breast cancer tissue array mainly showed cytoplasmic staining in most cases (Figs. 7 and
Supplementary Table S2). This result was consistent with the previous reports using several anti-EphA2 Abs [
35,
52,
53]. EphA2 was shown to receive the ligand-induced internalization [
54]. Furthermore, the activation of receptor tyrosine kinase MET can induce the phosphorylation of EphA2 (S897) and endosomal internalization [
55]. It would be interesting to investigate whether the cytoplasmic localization of EphA2 is involved in the malignant properties of cancer cells.
In conclusion, Ea2Mab-7 is a highly sensitive and versatile mAb for basic research and is expected to contribute to clinical applications such as antibody therapy and tumor diagnosis.
Figure 1.
Schematic illustration of anti-EphA2 mAbs production. (A) LN229/EphA2 cells were intraperitoneally injected into BALB/cAJcl mice. (B) After immunization, spleen cells were collected and fused with P3U1. (C) The supernatants of hybridoma cells were screened to obtain anti-EphA2 specific mAbs by flow cytometry using CHO/EphA2 and parental CHO-K1 cells. (D) Antigen-specific mAb-producing hybridoma cells were established by the limiting dilution method.
Figure 1.
Schematic illustration of anti-EphA2 mAbs production. (A) LN229/EphA2 cells were intraperitoneally injected into BALB/cAJcl mice. (B) After immunization, spleen cells were collected and fused with P3U1. (C) The supernatants of hybridoma cells were screened to obtain anti-EphA2 specific mAbs by flow cytometry using CHO/EphA2 and parental CHO-K1 cells. (D) Antigen-specific mAb-producing hybridoma cells were established by the limiting dilution method.
Figure 2.
Flow cytometry of anti-EphA2 mAbs against CHO/EphA2 and CHO-K1 cells. CHO-K1 (black lines) and CHO/EphA2 (Purple lines) cells were treated with Ea2Mab-7 (A) and a commercially available anti-EphA2 mAb, SHM16 (B) at the indicated concentrations. The mAbs-treated cells were incubated with anti-mouse IgG conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer.
Figure 2.
Flow cytometry of anti-EphA2 mAbs against CHO/EphA2 and CHO-K1 cells. CHO-K1 (black lines) and CHO/EphA2 (Purple lines) cells were treated with Ea2Mab-7 (A) and a commercially available anti-EphA2 mAb, SHM16 (B) at the indicated concentrations. The mAbs-treated cells were incubated with anti-mouse IgG conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer.
Figure 3.
Flow cytometry of anti-EphA2 mAbs against endogenous EphA2 expressing cancer cells. MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, HCT-15, PC-10, and LN229 cells were treated with Ea2Mab-7 (A, Purple lines) and a commercially available anti-EphA2 mAb, SHM16 (B, Purple lines) at the indicated concentrations. The mAbs-treated cells were incubated with anti-mouse IgG conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer. The black line represents the negative control (blocking buffer).
Figure 3.
Flow cytometry of anti-EphA2 mAbs against endogenous EphA2 expressing cancer cells. MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, HCT-15, PC-10, and LN229 cells were treated with Ea2Mab-7 (A, Purple lines) and a commercially available anti-EphA2 mAb, SHM16 (B, Purple lines) at the indicated concentrations. The mAbs-treated cells were incubated with anti-mouse IgG conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer. The black line represents the negative control (blocking buffer).
Figure 4.
Measurement of binding affinity of Ea2Mab-7 and SHM16. CHO/EphA2 cells (A) and MDA-MB-231 cells (B) were stained with mAbs serially diluted at the indicated concentrations. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer, followed by the calculation of the KD using GraphPad PRISM 6.
Figure 4.
Measurement of binding affinity of Ea2Mab-7 and SHM16. CHO/EphA2 cells (A) and MDA-MB-231 cells (B) were stained with mAbs serially diluted at the indicated concentrations. The fluorescence data were subsequently collected using the SA3800 Cell Analyzer, followed by the calculation of the KD using GraphPad PRISM 6.
Figure 5.
Western blot analysis using Ea2Mab-7. The cell lysate (10 μg/lane) of CHO-K1, CHO/EphA2, MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, HCT-15, PC-10, and LN229 cells were electrophoresed and transferred onto PVDF membranes. The membranes were incubated with 1 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7 (A) and 0.5 μg/mL of AC-15 (anti-β-actin mAb) (B). The blue arrow indicates the estimated molecular weights of EphA2 (108.3 kDa).
Figure 5.
Western blot analysis using Ea2Mab-7. The cell lysate (10 μg/lane) of CHO-K1, CHO/EphA2, MDA-MB-231, MIA PaCa-2, HCT-15, PC-10, and LN229 cells were electrophoresed and transferred onto PVDF membranes. The membranes were incubated with 1 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7 (A) and 0.5 μg/mL of AC-15 (anti-β-actin mAb) (B). The blue arrow indicates the estimated molecular weights of EphA2 (108.3 kDa).
Figure 6.
ICC of the paraffin-embedded cell sections of CHO-K1 and CHO/EphA2. The sections of CHO/EphA2 (A) and CHO-K1 (B) cells were treated with 10 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7, followed by that with the Envision + Kit. Color was developed using DAB, and counterstaining was performed using hematoxylin (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany). Scale bar = 100 μm.
Figure 6.
ICC of the paraffin-embedded cell sections of CHO-K1 and CHO/EphA2. The sections of CHO/EphA2 (A) and CHO-K1 (B) cells were treated with 10 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7, followed by that with the Envision + Kit. Color was developed using DAB, and counterstaining was performed using hematoxylin (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany). Scale bar = 100 μm.
Figure 7.
IHC using Ea2Mab-7 against breast cancer tissues. The sections of breast cancer tissue array (BR729) were treated with 10 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7. The staining was carried out using VENTANA BenchMark Ultra (Roche Diagnostics Corporation, IN, USA). Scale bar = 100 μm.
Figure 7.
IHC using Ea2Mab-7 against breast cancer tissues. The sections of breast cancer tissue array (BR729) were treated with 10 μg/mL of Ea2Mab-7. The staining was carried out using VENTANA BenchMark Ultra (Roche Diagnostics Corporation, IN, USA). Scale bar = 100 μm.