Development of a Hyperglycosylated IFN Alfacon-1 (CIFN): Toward Bimonthly or Monthly Dosing for Antiviral Therapies

J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2015 Aug;35(8):621-33. doi: 10.1089/jir.2014.0138. Epub 2015 Apr 13.

Abstract

Type 1 interferons (IFNs) have been shown to be efficacious against hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and some cancers with a significant drawback of short drug exposure. We have significantly improved the pharmacokinetic (PK) of consensus interferon (CIFN) by glycoengineering. We generated AL-624 by introducing 4 glycosylation sites. AL-624 was expressed, purified, and fractionated to yield 2-Gly, 3-Gly, and 4-Gly. In a rat PK study, AL-624 4-Gly exhibited a 6-fold increase of area under curve (AUC) and more than an 11-fold increase in time to half life (T1/2) over CIFN, suggesting the potential for weekly dosing (QW). In Yellow fever virus hamster model, QW of 4-Gly achieved similar efficacy to daily dosing (QD) CIFN and QW Peg-IFN-α-2a in overall survival rate and reduction of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level. Further refinement resulted in development of AL-683 by addition of external glycosylation sites and its mouse homologue. AL-683 maintains undiminished biological potency in HCV replicon. In mouse PK/pharmacodynamic (PD) studies, AL-683 homologue has a ∼37-fold improvement in T1/2 and a ∼33-fold improvement in AUC when compared with the unglycosylated mouse IFN-α-1. Significantly improved PD responses were also observed. The significant improvement of AL-683 PK over AL-624 suggests a bimonthly dosing regimen for AL-683. The possibility for once-a-month dosing could be realized by further optimization of manufacturing conditions.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antiviral Agents / chemistry
  • Antiviral Agents / isolation & purification
  • Antiviral Agents / metabolism
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line
  • Cricetinae
  • Drug Design
  • Drug Monitoring
  • Glycosylation
  • Humans
  • Interferon-alpha / chemistry
  • Interferon-alpha / genetics
  • Interferon-alpha / isolation & purification
  • Interferon-alpha / metabolism
  • Interferon-alpha / pharmacology*
  • Mice
  • Models, Molecular
  • Protein Conformation
  • Rats
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Interferon-alpha
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • interferon alfacon-1