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Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer

Globally, breast cancer is the leading cause of death in the female population aged 45 and below with a breast cancer incidence reaching 18.1 million in the year 2018. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is part of a group of cancers that lack the expression of Progesterone receptor (PR), Estrogen...

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Main Author: Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
Other Authors: Barth, Stefan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
author2 Barth, Stefan
author_browse Barth, Stefan
Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
author_facet Barth, Stefan
Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
author_sort Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
collection Thesis
description Globally, breast cancer is the leading cause of death in the female population aged 45 and below with a breast cancer incidence reaching 18.1 million in the year 2018. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is part of a group of cancers that lack the expression of Progesterone receptor (PR), Estrogen receptor (ER) and Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). TNBC is commonly associated with early stage metastasis with low survival rates as well as a high frequency of recurrence and proves to be problematic in both the young and elderly female populations. Conventional diagnostic methods for TNBCs include mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound while therapeutic methods include mastectomy and breast conserving surgery (coupled with radiation therapy). The lack of effective therapeutic options, poor prognostic value and high rates of metastasis, has made treatment of TNBC difficult. The major focus of this work was on the following tumour associated antigens (TAAs): CSPG4 (a transmembrane protein found in 50% of TNBC cases), EGFR (which is overexpressed in 13-76% of TNBCs), and MSLN (which is overexpressed in 67% of TNBCs) as potential targets for monospecific therapy. The evolution of antibody-based immunotherapy strategies has led to applications of single chain variable fragment (scFv) & single domain/nanobody (VHH) antibody formats for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In this work, these recombinant antibody fragments have been combined with SNAP-tag, a modified version of the human DNA repair enzyme O6-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferase (AGT), which autocatalytically binds benzyl-guanine modified substrates such as fluorophores or small molecule toxins covalently in a 1:1 stoichiometry. In this study, the primary aim was the comparison of different antibody formats fused to SNAPtag and the potential of these biopharmaceuticals towards immunodiagnosis and therapy of TNBCs. First functionalities of two scFv SNAP fusion proteins and one VHH SNAP fusion protein previously not having been described are provided through binding analyses on receptor positive tumour cell lines. This was achieved by in-silico design and molecular cloning of genetically fused antiCSPG4(scFv), -MSLN(scFv), -MSLN(VHH), -EGFR(scFv) & -EGFR(VHH) to SNAP-tag. The final constructs were confirmed by Sanger sequencing and subsequently transfected into a mammalian vector system (HEK293T) for transient expression of the engineered fusion proteins. Full length protein purified from cell culture supernatant was analysed for diagnostic/therapeutic activities dependant on the substrate attached in the form of a fluorophore or small molecule toxin resulting in recombinant antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The study shows promise in providing new immunodiagnostic and therapeutic agents that are specific and less harmful than the current state of the art procedure
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language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:03.909Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences (IBMS)
publisherStr Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences (IBMS)
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32795 Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela Barth, Stefan Naran, Krupa TNBC CSPG4 MSLN EGFR scFv VHH SNAP-tag Globally, breast cancer is the leading cause of death in the female population aged 45 and below with a breast cancer incidence reaching 18.1 million in the year 2018. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is part of a group of cancers that lack the expression of Progesterone receptor (PR), Estrogen receptor (ER) and Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). TNBC is commonly associated with early stage metastasis with low survival rates as well as a high frequency of recurrence and proves to be problematic in both the young and elderly female populations. Conventional diagnostic methods for TNBCs include mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound while therapeutic methods include mastectomy and breast conserving surgery (coupled with radiation therapy). The lack of effective therapeutic options, poor prognostic value and high rates of metastasis, has made treatment of TNBC difficult. The major focus of this work was on the following tumour associated antigens (TAAs): CSPG4 (a transmembrane protein found in 50% of TNBC cases), EGFR (which is overexpressed in 13-76% of TNBCs), and MSLN (which is overexpressed in 67% of TNBCs) as potential targets for monospecific therapy. The evolution of antibody-based immunotherapy strategies has led to applications of single chain variable fragment (scFv) & single domain/nanobody (VHH) antibody formats for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In this work, these recombinant antibody fragments have been combined with SNAP-tag, a modified version of the human DNA repair enzyme O6-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferase (AGT), which autocatalytically binds benzyl-guanine modified substrates such as fluorophores or small molecule toxins covalently in a 1:1 stoichiometry. In this study, the primary aim was the comparison of different antibody formats fused to SNAPtag and the potential of these biopharmaceuticals towards immunodiagnosis and therapy of TNBCs. First functionalities of two scFv SNAP fusion proteins and one VHH SNAP fusion protein previously not having been described are provided through binding analyses on receptor positive tumour cell lines. This was achieved by in-silico design and molecular cloning of genetically fused antiCSPG4(scFv), -MSLN(scFv), -MSLN(VHH), -EGFR(scFv) & -EGFR(VHH) to SNAP-tag. The final constructs were confirmed by Sanger sequencing and subsequently transfected into a mammalian vector system (HEK293T) for transient expression of the engineered fusion proteins. Full length protein purified from cell culture supernatant was analysed for diagnostic/therapeutic activities dependant on the substrate attached in the form of a fluorophore or small molecule toxin resulting in recombinant antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The study shows promise in providing new immunodiagnostic and therapeutic agents that are specific and less harmful than the current state of the art procedure 2021-02-05T08:28:17Z 2021-02-05T08:28:17Z 2020 2021-02-04T22:46:18Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32795 eng application/pdf Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle TNBC
CSPG4
MSLN
EGFR
scFv
VHH
SNAP-tag
Magugu, Freddy-Junior Siybaulela
Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
title_full Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
title_fullStr Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
title_full_unstemmed Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
title_short Development of potential immunodiagnostic & therapeutic techniques using SNAP-fusion proteins as tools for the validation of Triple-negative Breast Cancer
title_sort development of potential immunodiagnostic amp therapeutic techniques using snap fusion proteins as tools for the validation of triple negative breast cancer
topic TNBC
CSPG4
MSLN
EGFR
scFv
VHH
SNAP-tag
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32795
work_keys_str_mv AT magugufreddyjuniorsiybaulela developmentofpotentialimmunodiagnosticamptherapeutictechniquesusingsnapfusionproteinsastoolsforthevalidationoftriplenegativebreastcancer