Impact of Cell-surface Antigen Expression on Target Engagement and Function of an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor × c-MET Bispecific Antibody*

The efficacy of engaging multiple drug targets using bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) is affected by the relative cell-surface protein levels of the respective targets. In this work, the receptor density values were correlated to the in vitro activity of a BsAb (JNJ-61186372) targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and hepatocyte growth factor receptor (c-MET). Simultaneous binding of the BsAb to both receptors was confirmed in vitro. By using controlled Fab-arm exchange, a set of BsAbs targeting EGFR and c-MET was generated to establish an accurate receptor quantitation of a panel of lung and gastric cancer cell lines expressing heterogeneous levels of EGFR and c-MET. EGFR and c-MET receptor density levels were correlated to the respective gene expression levels as well as to the respective receptor phosphorylation inhibition values. We observed a bias in BsAb binding toward the more highly expressed of the two receptors, EGFR or c-MET, which resulted in the enhanced in vitro potency of JNJ-61186372 against the less highly expressed target. On the basis of these observations, we propose an avidity model of how JNJ-61186372 engages EGFR and c-MET with potentially broad implications for bispecific drug efficacy and design.