Development and Characterization of a Potent Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha-Blocking Agent.

Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), one of the major proinflammatory cytokines, plays a key role in an effective immune response. However, the chronic presence of TNFα can lead to several inflammatory disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, etc. Inhibition of TNFα by pharmacological inhibitors or antibodies has proven to be effective in palliative treatment to some extent. The aim of this study was to develop an anti-TNFα antibody, which may be used as a therapeutic option to inhibit TNFα-mediated cytotoxicity. We characterized several hybridoma clones secreting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to human-TNFα. Four mAbs rescued L929 fibroblast cells from TNFα-triggered cell death and one of these, namely C8, was found to have the highest affinity. To gain insights into the mechanism by which mAb C8 inhibits human TNFα-mediated toxicity, the epitope corresponding to the mAb was delineated. The antigenic determinant was found to comprise of the stretch of amino acids 99-120, of which, 102-104 (glutamine, arginine, glutamic acid) form the core epitope. The observation was supported by bioinformatics analyses of an antigen/antibody complex model. In addition, the binding affinity of mAb C8 to TNFα was found to be comparable with that of infliximab, which is a commercially available anti-TNFα mAb.