In a clinical study of recombinant adenoassociated virus-2 expressing human factor IX (AAV2-FIX), we detected 2 impediments to long-term gene transfer. First, preexisting anti-AAV neutralizing antibodies (NABs) prevent vector from reaching the target tissue, and second, CD8 ؉ T-cell responses to hepatocyte-cell surface displayed AAV-capsid-terminated FIX expression after several weeks. Because the vector is incapable of synthesizing viral proteins, a short course of immunosuppression, until AAV capsid is cleared from the transduced cells, may mitigate the host T-cell response, allowing longterm expression of FIX. To evaluate coadministration of immunosuppression, we studied AAV8 vector infusion in rhesus macaques, natural hosts for AAV8. We administered AAV8-FIX in 16 macaques via the hepatic artery and assessed the effects of (1)

A long-acting factor VIII (FVIII) as a replacement therapy for hemophilia A would significantly improve treatment options for patients with hemophilia A. To develop a FVIII with an extended circulating half-life, but without a reduction in activity, we have engineered 23 FVIII variants with introduced surface-exposed cysteines to which a polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer was specifically conjugated. Screening of variant expression level, PEGylation yield, and functional assay identified several conjugates retaining full in vitro coagulation activity and von Willebrand factor (VWF) binding. PEGylated FVIII variants exhibited improved pharmacokinetics in hemophilic mice and rabbits. In addition, pharmacokinetic studies in VWF knockout mice indicated that larger molecular weight PEG may substitute for VWF in protecting PEGylated FVIII from clearance in vivo. In bleeding models of hemophilic mice, PEGylated FVIII not only exhibited prolonged efficacy that is consistent with the improved pharmacokinetics but also showed efficacy in stopping acute bleeds comparable with that of unmodified rFVIII. In summary site-specifically PEGylated FVIII has the potential to be a long-acting prophylactic treatment while being fully efficacious for on-demand treatment for patients with hemophilia A. (Blood. 2010;116(2):270-279)

Long-term cures of hemophilia B have been achieved using AAV2 delivering the factor IX gene to the liver of adenoassociated virus (AAV)-naive hemophilic animals. However, the clinical success of this approach requires overcoming preexisting AAV neutralizing antibodies prevalent in humans. To better define the inhibition of neutralizing antibodies on AAV2-mediated liver transduction, we developed an in vivo passive immunity model. SCID mice were first reconstituted to a defined neutralizing titer with pooled plasma-derived human immunoglobulin. AAV2-FIX vectors then were administered to the liver, and the transduction efficiency was measured by plasma FIX levels. Unexpectedly, AAV2 neutralizing titers lower than 1:10 were sufficient to neutralize 4 to 20 ؋ 10 12 vg/kg of AAV2 vectors in vivo, a capacity that was underestimated by in vitro neutralizing assays. We also evaluated strategies to evade neutralization, including the use of alternative delivery routes, infusion parameters, empty capsids, and alternative AAV serotypes 6 and 8. The results indicate that low AAV2 neutralizing titers can be inhibitory to the tested human and primate AAV vectors delivered into the circulatory system. Therefore, novel nonprimate AAV vectors or compartmentalized delivery may offer more consistent therapeutic effects in the presence of preexisting AAV neutralizing antibodies.

IntroductionHemophilia A, a congenital deficiency or dysfunction of factor VIII (FVIII), is the most common severe inherited bleeding disorder in humans. Severe hemophilia A patients have less than 1% of normal FVIII activity, and suffer from spontaneous or traumatic joint and muscle hemorrhage, leading to a chronic painful and disabling arthropathy. Bleeding into body cavities or the brain can result in significant morbidity and mortality if not treated aggressively. 1 Current treatment in the developed world, FVIII protein replacement, has established that restoring circulating FVIII levels above 1% of normal prevents most spontaneous bleeding, and levels above 5% are sufficient to improve the disease from a severe to a mild form. However, the limited worldwide supplies of both plasma-derived and recombinant FVIII, its short half-life in vivo (ϳ 12 hours), and the high cost of treatment (Ͼ $150 000 per year) make gene therapy an attractive alternative to better manage and cure the disease.Previously, we have shown that gene therapy with an AAV2 vector encoding a B-domain-deleted (BDD) canine FVIII (cFVIII) cDNA under the control of a liver-specific promoter resulted in an average of 2% to 3% of normal canine FVIII activity in 2 hemophilia A dogs, 2 providing preliminary support for the feasibility of this approach in humans. In order to further improve the efficacy of liver-targeted AAV-cFVIII, we explored the possibility of using alternative serotypes of AAV. We also assessed the duration of therapeutic benefit following a single injection of AAV-cFVIII in hemophilia A dogs.Since the isolation of AAV2, many different AAV serotypes have been isolated from human and nonhuman primate tissues. 3 In comparison with the prototypic AAV2, AAV vectors pseudotyped with other serotypes show superior transduction efficiency in various tissues: AAV1 in muscle, 4 pancreatic islets, 5 heart, 6 vascular endothelium, 7 brain and central nervous system (CNS), 8,9 and liver 10 ; AAV3 in Cochlear inner hair cells 11 ; AAV4 in brain 12 ; AAV5 in brain and CNS, 8,13 lung, 14-16 eye, 17,18 arthritic joints, 19 and liver 20 ; AAV6 in muscle, 21,22 heart, 23 and airway epithelium 24 ; AAV7 in muscle 4 ; and AAV8 in muscle, 4,25 pancreas, 26 heart, 25 and liver. [27][28][29][30][31] The tissue tropism of different AAV serotypes may permit targeting of AAV vectors to human disease. However, as most of these tissue-specific tropisms have been reported in the rodent, it is important to evaluate cross-species fidelity of differential targeting among serotypes in larger animal modelsIn this report, we have compared the efficacy, gene transfer efficiency, and biodistribution of AAV-cFVIII vectors of serotypes 2, 5, 6, and 8 delivered by portal-vein injection in hemophilia A mice. Furthermore, since prior studies have demonstrated that the hemophilia dog model, compared with the mouse model, more accurately predicts the therapeutic outcomes in humans and other primates, 32,33 we have determined the long-term efficacy and safety of AAV2-cFVI...

Despite proven benefits, prophylactic treatment for hemophilia A is hampered by the short half-life of factor VIII. A recombinant factor VIII-Fc fusion protein (rFVIIIFc) was constructed to determine the potential for reduced frequency of dosing. rFVIIIFc has an ϳ 2-fold longer half-life than rFVIII in hemophilia A (HemA) mice and dogs. The extension of rFVIIIFc half-life requires interaction of Fc with the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). In FcRn knockout mice, the extension of rFVIIIFc half-life is abrogated, and is restored in human FcRn transgenic mice. The Fc fusion has no impact on FVIII-specific activity. rFVIIIFc has comparable acute efficacy as rFVIII in treating tail clip injury in HemA mice, and fully corrects whole blood clotting time (WBCT) in HemA dogs immediately after dosing. Furthermore, consistent with prolonged half-life, rFVIIIFc shows 2-fold longer prophylactic efficacy in protecting HemA mice from tail vein transection bleeding induced 24-48 hours after dosing. In HemA dogs, rFVIIIFc also sustains partial correction of WBCT 1.5-to 2-fold longer than rFVIII. rFVIIIFc was well tolerated in both species. Thus, the rescue of FVIII by Fc fusion to provide prolonged protection presents a novel pathway for FVIII catabolism, and warrants further investigation. (Blood. 2012;119(13):3024-3030) IntroductionHemophilia A is an X-linked bleeding disorder caused by deficiency of factor VIII (FVIII) activity. 1 The disease is characterized by spontaneous hemorrhage and excessive bleeding after trauma. Over time, repeated bleeding into muscles and joints, which begins in early childhood, results in hemophilic arthropathy and irreversible joint damage. This damage is progressive and leads to pronounced musculoskeletal morbidity. 1 Prophylaxis significantly reduces joint damage and long-term sequelae, and improves quality of life in comparison to on-demand treatment. 2,3 However, the short half-life (10-12 hours) of FVIII necessitates dosing every other day or 3 times per week by IV injection for full prophylaxis. 2,4,5 Therefore, a longer-acting FVIII would represent a key advancement in the management of hemophilia A.We have developed a recombinant factor VIII-Fc (rFVIIIFc) fusion protein to extend the half-life of FVIII by leveraging a naturally occurring biologic pathway. rFVIIIFc is a heterodimeric protein comprising a single B-domain-deleted (BDD) FVIII linked recombinantly to the Fc domain of human IgG1 (IgG1). The Fc domain enables binding to the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), which is responsible for protection of IgG from degradation and facilitates its recycling, 6,7 resulting in a half-life for IgG of ϳ 3 weeks in humans. The Fc domain of IgG1 has been fused to growth factors, cytokines, enzymes, and ligand-binding regions of receptors [8][9][10] ; several of these fusion proteins have been approved as therapeutics (eg, etanercept, abatacept, belatacept, alefacept, rilonacept, aflibercept, and romiplostim). However, traditional dimeric Fc fusions, created through the fusion of the monomeric effector p...

Controlling neuropathic pain is an unmet medical need and we set out to identify new therapeutic candidates. AV411 (ibudilast) is a relatively nonselective phosphodiesterase inhibitor that also suppresses glial-cell activation and can partition into the CNS. Recent data strongly implicate activated glial cells in the spinal cord in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. We hypothesized that AV411 might be effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain and, hence, tested whether it attenuates the mechanical allodynia induced in rats by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve, spinal nerve ligation (SNL) and the chemotherapeutic paclitaxel (Taxol). Twice-daily systemic administration of AV411 for multiple days resulted in a sustained attenuation of CCI-induced allodynia. Reversal of allodynia was of similar magnitude to that observed with gabapentin and enhanced efficacy was observed in combination. We further show that multi-day AV411 reduces SNL-induced allodynia, and reverses and prevents paclitaxel-induced allodynia. Also, AV411 cotreatment attenuates tolerance to morphine in nerve-injured rats. Safety pharmacology, pharmacokinetic and initial mechanistic analyses were also performed. Overall, the results indicate that AV411 is effective in diverse models of neuropathic pain and support further exploration of its potential as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

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Factor VIII (FVIII) replacement products enable comprehensive care in hemophilia A. Treatment goals in severe hemophilia A are expanding beyond low annualized bleed rates to include long-term outcomes associated with high sustained FVIII levels. Endogenous von Willebrand factor (VWF) stabilizes and protects FVIII from degradation and clearance, but it also subjects FVIII to a half-life ceiling of ∼15 to 19 hours. Increasing recombinant FVIII (rFVIII) half-life further is ultimately dependent upon uncoupling rFVIII from endogenous VWF. We have developed a new class of FVIII replacement, rFVIIIFc-VWF-XTEN (BIVV001), that is physically decoupled from endogenous VWF and has enhanced pharmacokinetic properties compared with all previous FVIII products. BIVV001 was bioengineered as a unique fusion protein consisting of a VWF-DʹD3 domain fused to rFVIII via immunoglobulin-G1 Fc domains and 2 XTEN polypeptides (Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Mountain View, CA). Plasma FVIII half-life after BIVV001 administration in mice and monkeys was 25 to 31 hours and 33 to 34 hours, respectively, representing a three- to fourfold increase in FVIII half-life. Our results showed that multifaceted protein engineering, far beyond a few amino acid substitutions, could significantly improve rFVIII pharmacokinetic properties while maintaining hemostatic function. BIVV001 is the first rFVIII with the potential to significantly change the treatment paradigm for severe hemophilia A by providing optimal protection against all bleed types, with less frequent doses. The protein engineering methods described herein can also be applied to other complex proteins.