TX99 Is a Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Against Mouse TIGIT

Abstract

T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domains (TIGIT) is an inhibitory immunoreceptor expressed on NK cells, effector and memory T cells, and regulatory T cells (Tregs). The ligands for TIGIT are CD155 (PVR) and CD112 (PVRL2, nectin-2), which are broadly expressed on hematopoietic cells and nonhematopoietic cells. TIGIT negatively regulates antitumor responses, but promotes autoimmune reaction. Although neutralizing anti-human TIGIT mAbs are under clinical trials for cancers, how the blockade of TIGIT interaction with the ligands shows tumor immunity still remains unclear. Although analyses of mouse tumor model using a neutralizing anti-mouse TIGIT (mTIGIT) mAbs should be useful to address this issue, there are limitations to this type of studies due to unavailability of neutralizing anti-mTIGIT mAbs. In this study, we generated five clones of anti-mTIGIT mAbs, designated TX99, TX100, TX103, TX104, and TX105. We show that TX99 and TX100 showed the strongest binding to TIGIT. We also show that TX99 interfered with the interaction between TIGIT and CD155 and increased NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity against CD155-expressing RMA-S cells. Thus, TX99 is a unique neutralizing mAb that can be used for studies of mTIGIT functions.

Keywords: NK cells; TIGIT; blocking antibodies.