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Potential of an anti-bevacizumab idiotype scFv DNA-based immunization to elicit VEGF-binding antibody response

Gene Therapy volume 30, pages 598–602 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Anti-idiotype antibodies have been considered for vaccination approaches against different diseases, including cancers. Based on that, we previously described an anti-bevacizumab idiotype monoclonal antibody, 10.D7, that revealed detectable antitumor effects on a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-dependent tumor model. Herein, we evaluated the possible applicability of a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) for the 10.D7 antibody in a gene immunization strategy. After checking that mammalian cells transfected to express the 10.D7 scFv are recognized by bevacizumab, it was explored the ability of our scFv construction, in a gene-based scheme, to elicit an immune response containing VEGF-binding antibodies. The results provide evidence that the designed 10.D7 scFv construct maintains the anti-bevacizumab idiotype features and has potential to activate an immune response recognizing VEGF.

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Fig. 1: Construction of a plasmid encoding the 10.D7 scFv.
Fig. 2: Evaluation of the 10.D7 scFv binding and the antitumoral activities of the designed vaccine.

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Data availability

The data that support the reported results are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; Grant Number 16/14358-2), and the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biophysics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Tábata Almeida Silva, Rodrigo Barbosa Aguiar, Gabriel Esquitini Machado, Barbara Hamaguchi, Marcelo Ferreira Marcondes Machado & Jane Zveiter Moraes

  2. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Marcelo Mori

Authors
  1. Tábata Almeida Silva
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  2. Rodrigo Barbosa Aguiar
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  4. Gabriel Esquitini Machado
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  7. Jane Zveiter Moraes
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Contributions

RBA and JZM conceived the experiments. TAS and GEM performed the assays. BH offered technical support. MM and MFMM contributed to scFv construction. All authors analyzed the results. RBA and JZM wrote and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Rodrigo Barbosa Aguiar or Jane Zveiter Moraes.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Animal procedures were approved by the ethics committee (CEUA) of the “Universidade Federal de São Paulo” (Protocol no. 6710130416).

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Silva, T.A., Aguiar, R.B., Mori, M. et al. Potential of an anti-bevacizumab idiotype scFv DNA-based immunization to elicit VEGF-binding antibody response. Gene Ther 30, 598–602 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41434-022-00376-9

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