Defucosylated mouse–dog chimeric anti-EGFR antibody exerts antitumor activities in mouse xenograft models of canine tumors

Abstract

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) contributes to tumor malignancy via gene amplification and protein overexpression. Previously, we developed an anti-human EGFR (hEGFR) monoclonal antibody, namely EMab-134, which detects hEGFR and dog EGFR (dEGFR) with high sensitivity and specificity. In this study, we produced a defucosylated mouse–dog chimeric anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody, namely E134Bf. In vitro analysis revealed that E134Bf highly exerted antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and complement-dependent cytotoxicity against a canine osteosarcoma cell line (D-17) and a canine fibroblastic cell line (A-72), both of which express endoge-nous dEGFR. Moreover, in vivo administration of E134Bf significantly suppressed the development of D-17 and A-72 compared with the control dog IgG in mouse xenografts. These results indicate that E134Bf exerts antitumor effects against dEGFR-expressing canine cancers and could be valuable as part of an antibody treatment regimen for dogs.