A Self‐Assembled Protein Platform for Plug‐and‐Play Customization of Multivalent Artificial Antibodies and Antibody‐Drug Conjugates
Modular assembly of multivalent therapeutics with precise modulation of pharmacokinetic and pharmacological properties remains a critical challenge in drug development. Here, we present ATPlug, a self-assembling protein platform that integrates three crucial functional modules: a trimerization domain to enhance avidity, a SpyCatcher module for efficient conjugation, and an albumin-binding domain to optimize pharmacokinetics and tissue selectivity. This rational design facilitates the modular assembly of multivalent artificial antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), demonstrating remarkable versatility through the successful incorporation of diverse therapeutic modules targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The trivalent constructs exhibited up to 30-fold enhancement in target binding avidity and extended plasma half-life via endogenous albumin hitchhiking. Notably, the ATPlug-customized modular ADCs achieved binding affinities of 1.8 nM for EGFR and exhibited selective cytotoxicity toward EGFR-overexpressing tumor cells, resulting in potent tumor suppression efficacy. This plug-and-play strategy provides a framework for next-generation therapeutics combining customized multivalency with multidrug synergies.
Authors
- Yuzhe Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3713-9941)
- Yunchuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8534-4504)
- Lijun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2952-4620)
- Yang Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4037-0431)
- Ze Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0726-192X)
- Shisheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5812-3941)
- Xiaofeng Lu
- Youmei Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0375-804X)
- Tianshan She
- Hao Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2214-9474)
- Jie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7712-5982)
- Jing Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8311-7698)
- Zhuo Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6351-8689)
- Jie Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6509-8614)
- Li Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0302-1635)
- Hongyu Lu
- Xinyuan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5086-2310)
- Wenjuan Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5555-5260)
- Hong Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2087-3306)
Institutions
- Sichuan University (CN)
- West China Hospital of Sichuan University (CN)
- Third People's Hospital of Chengdu (CN)
- Sichuan Cancer Hospital (CN)
- ZheJiang Institute For Food and Drug Control (CN)
- Southwest Jiaotong University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-08-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202506426
- Primary Topic
- Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province