WO 2018/029586 Al 15 February 2018 (15.02.2018) W!P O PCT
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(12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (10) International Publication Number (43) International Publication Date WO 2018/029586 Al 15 February 2018 (15.02.2018) W!P O PCT (51) International Patent Classification: Igor; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc., 250 A61K 39/00 (2006.01) C07K 16/00 (2006.01) Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (US). (21) International Application Number: (74) Agent: NOVARTIS AG; Lichtstrasse 35, 4056 Basel PCT/IB20 17/054801 (CH). (22) International Filing Date: (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every 04 August 2017 (04.08.2017) kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BN, BR, BW, BY, BZ, (25) Filing Language: English CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM, DO, (26) Publication Language: English DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IR, IS, JO, JP, KE, KG, KH, KN, KP, (30) Priority Data: KR, KW, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, 62/371,834 07 August 2016 (07.08.2016) US MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, 62/399,544 26 September 2016 (26.09.2016) US OM, PA, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS, RU, RW, SA, (71) Applicant: NOVARTIS AG [CH/CH]; Lichtstrasse 35, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY,TH, TJ, TM, TN, 4056 Basel (CH). TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, ZM, ZW. (72) Inventors: DOMINY, John; Novartis Institutes for Bio- (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every Medical Research, Inc., 250 Massachusetts Avenue, Cam kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH, bridge, MA 02139 (US). DUNN, Robert; Novartis Insti GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, RW, SD, SL, ST, SZ, TZ, tute for Functional Genomics, Inc., DBA Genomics Institute UG, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, RU, TJ, of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), 10675 John TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121 (US). GLASER, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, Scott; Novartis Institute for Functional Genomics, Inc., MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, SM, DBA Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Founda TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, GW, tion (GNF), 10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA KM, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). 92 12 1(US) . KEATING, Mark; 135 Orchard Avenue, We ston, MA 02493 (US). KLATTENHOFF, Carla; Novar Declarations under Rule 4.17: tis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc., 250 Massachu — as to applicant's entitlement to applyfor and be granted a setts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (US). SPLAWSKI, patent (Rule 4.1 7(H)) (54) Title: MRNA-MEDIATED IMMUNIZATION METHODS Priming immunization Boosting immunizations 1) mRNA - → 1) mRNA 2) mRNA — 2) Overexpressing cells 3) mRNA → 3) Virus like particles 4) Overexpressing cells - 4 mRNA 5) Virus like particles → 5) mRNA 0 0 FIG. 1A © 0 0 (57) Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to methods of immunization and methods for generating antibodies using compo- sitions comprising cationic lipids and polynucleotide molecules, such as polyribonucleotide molecules, e.g., mRNA, which code for immunogens (e.g., a target protein or a fragment thereof). O [Continued on nextpage] WO 2018/029586 Al llll II II 11III II I II I HIM 11II III II I II Published: — with international search report (Art. 21(3)) — with sequence listing part of description (Rule 5.2(a)) mRNA-MEDIATED IMMUNIZATION METHODS [001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/371 ,834 filed on August 7 , 2016 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/399,544 filed on September 26, 2016, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. SEQUENCE LISTING [002] The instant application contains a Sequence Listing which has been submitted electronically in ASCII format and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Said ASCII copy, created on August 3 , 2017, is named PAT057169-WO-PCT_SL.txt and is 146,992 bytes in size. FIELD [003] The present disclosure is in the field of immunology. In particular, this disclosure is directed to methods of immunization using compositions comprising cationic lipids and polynucleotide molecules, such as polyribonucleotide molecules, e.g., mRNA, which code for immunogens (e.g., a target protein or a fragment thereof). This disclosure is also directed to methods for producing antibodies (e.g., monoclonal antibodies) from immunized animals (e.g., non-human animals) for the purposes of making therapeutic antibodies, as well as to the antibodies themselves. BACKGROUND [004] Therapeutic monoclonal antibody development in vivo is often limited by the ability to produce a high quality antigen that can be used for immunization. Ideally, the antigen should be a highly purified protein with an intact structural conformation and have enough sequence variation from the animal host strain as to break immunological tolerance and induce a robust humoral response. For many target proteins intended for use as antigens, however, meeting these requirements is not possible due to such issues as inherently poor biophysical properties of the protein that proscribe overexpression/purification, cytotoxicity in host production cells, and poor immunogenicity of the target protein's amino acid sequence. [005] Traditional methods of animal immunization have employed two general strategies for the generation of antibodies. The first involves repeated injections of full length protein antigen in purified format in the presence of an adjuvant to enhance the immune response. For small to medium-sized soluble proteins, this procedure can be a successful method for the generation of monoclonal antibodies against an antigen in its native conformation. For very large proteins, l transmembrane proteins, proteins with unusual post translational modifications, or proteins with poor solubility, this method is of very limited utility, as obtaining pure native, full length protein in the quantities needed for immunization is difficult. The second strategy entails immunization of animals with a DNA construct which encodes the antigen of interest. This strategy allows for the expression of difficult to purify proteins in their native state in situ. It suffers, however, from a relatively low antibody titer generation, which can ultimately correlate with a low yield of monoclonal hybridoma production (Howard et al. Making and using antibodies: A Practical Handbook, 2nd Edition CRC Press, 2013). SUMMARY [006] The present disclosure is directed to a method for eliciting an immune response in an animal (e.g., non-human animal), comprising the steps of: (a) mixing at least one cationic lipid with a polynucleotide, such as polyribonucleotide (e.g., mRNA), coding for an antigenic determinant, thereby forming a cationic lipid-polynucleotide complex; and (b) administering the lipid-polynucleotide complex to the animal. The present disclosure is further directed to a genetic immunization method wherein the polynucleotide is a polyribonucleotide molecule such as an mRNA molecule which codes for an immunogen (e.g., a target protein or a fragment thereof). The present disclosure is further directed to a method for producing antibodies (e.g., polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies) comprising the use of genetic immunization method described herein, and further comprising the step of isolating the antibodies from the immunized animal. [007] The present disclosure is also directed to a method for producing monoclonal antibodies comprising the steps of: (a) mixing at least one cationic lipid with a polynucleotide, thereby forming a lipid-polynucleotide complex, wherein the polynucleotide comprises an mRNA sequence coding for an immunogen; (b) administering the lipid-polynucleotide complex to at least one mouse; (c) removing antibody-producing cells such as lymphocytes (e.g., B-lymphocytes) or splenocytes from the immunized mice; (d) fusing the B-lymphocytes from the immunized mice with myeloma cells, thereby producing hybridomas; (e) cloning the hybridomas; (f) selecting positive clones which produce anti-immunogen antibody; (g) culturing the anti-immunogen antibody-producing clones; and (h) isolating anti-immunogen antibodies from the cultures. In certain aspects, the methods provided herein for producing antibodies comprise further steps to determine the amino acid sequence of the heavy chain variable region and light chain variable region of such antibodies as well as the corresponding encoding nucleic acid sequences. In particular aspects, the methods provided herein for producing antibodies comprise further steps to generate a chimeric antibody or humanized antibody of the anti-immunogen antibody. [008] The present disclosure is also directed to a method in which immune tissues are collected from animals immunized with mRNA containing cationic lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and B cells are selectively isolated. The B cells are directly screened for the production of an antibody with the desired properties and the antibody is directly cloned and expressed recombinantly, bypassing the need for generation of hybridomas. [009] The mRNA encapsulated LNPs of the present disclosure may also be used for the purpose of generating a recombinant antibody library from the immune tissues of an immunized host animal (e.g., rodents (e.g., mice and rats), rabbits, chickens, cows, camelids, pigs, sheep, goats, sharks, and non-human primates, etc.). This library can then be subsequently screened in a heterologous host system, such as phage or yeast display for the desired properties. [0010] The methods of polynucleotide-based, e.g., mRNA-based, immunization of the present disclosure have addressed many of the issues associated with the above-described difficulties inherent in antigen production and/or antibody generation. Among other things, said methods dispense with the need to directly express and purify the target protein antigen.