Identification of highly reactive cysteine residues at less exposed positions in the Fab constant region for site-specific conjugation

Engineered cysteine residues are currently used for the site-specific conjugation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). In general, positions on the protein surface have been selected for substituting a cysteine as a conjugation site; however, less exposed positions (with less than 20% of accessible surface area [ASA]) have not yet been evaluated. In this study, we engineered original cysteine positional variants of a Fab fragment, with less than 20% of ASA, and evaluated their thiol reactivities through conjugation with various kinds of payloads. As a result, we have identified three original cysteine positional variants (heavy chain: Hc-A140C, LIGHT chain: Lc-Q124C and Lc-L201C), which exhibited similar monomer content, thermal stability, and antigen binding affinity in comparison to the wild-type Fab. In addition, the presence of cysteine in these positions made it possible for the Fab variants to react with variable-sized molecules with high efficiency. The favorable physical properties of the cysteine positional variants selected in our study suggest that less exposed positions, with less than 20% of ASA, provide an alternative for creating conjugation sites.