Means and methods for selecting specific binders

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a novel method for the selection and identification of polypeptide binders specific for a target. More specifically, the selection method comprises the steps of capturing the target on a surface using a first binder to form an immobilized antigen complex, selecting a specific antigen-binding polypeptide present in a sample, preferably as a display library, and eluting the target protein and the selective polypeptide binder using a second binder that competes for the target binding site of the first binder. More specifically, the selection method described herein provides an efficient, highly selective, medium- to high-throughput technology applicable to recombinant antibody libraries, including immune libraries and unbiased or proteome-wide display libraries, and allows selection to be performed under physiological conditions without the need for purified target protein.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a novel method for the selection and identification of polypeptide binders specific for a target. More specifically, the selection method comprises the steps of capturing the target on a surface using a first binder to form an immobilized antigen complex, selecting a specific antigen-binding polypeptide present in a sample, preferably as a display library, and eluting the target protein and the selective polypeptide binder using a second binder that competes for the target binding site of the first binder. More specifically, the selection method described herein provides an efficient, highly selective, medium- to high-throughput technology applicable to recombinant antibody libraries, including immune libraries and unbiased or proteome-wide display libraries, and allows selection to be performed under physiological conditions without the need for purified target protein. [Background technology]

[0002] Introduction In recent years, numerous display and selection methods have been reported and widely applied as antibody generation techniques, providing tools and methods to identify and isolate novel polypeptide binders, mainly monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), antibody fragments, etc., starting from large collections. The production of monoclonal antibodies requires hybridoma cell lines, i.e. hybrid cell lines created by the fusion of antibody-producing lymphocytes and tumor cells. Hybridoma technology, pioneered by Koehler and Milstein in the 1970s, is still state of the art in antibody hit generation. However, cloning of antibody genes as single domains or as fragments in combinatorial libraries has led to more numerous and higher throughput antibody generation approaches. This development gave rise to the principle of genotype-phenotype correlation, since this "barcoding" was the key to being able to select binders of billions of different protein variants in an iterative process with high-throughput identification. Several display techniques have emerged as more rapid and efficient selection methods and, in combination with clone identification, have become the basis of antibody screening platforms, but in particular the expression of functional antibody fragments on the surface of filamentous phages, known as phage display, has been used for in vitro selection of antibody fragments by McCafferty and Chiswell in Cambridge, Barbas in La Jolla, and Breitling and Duebel in Heidelberg. In addition to phages, selection methods using non-phage display systems have also been established, including ribosome display and mRNA display, which are suitable for purified antigens, yeast display libraries, which are often applied in cell sorting selection methods, and mammalian display, which is advantageous for therapeutic development in order to apply similar hosts, but which has room for consideration due to its slow growth rate. For recent reports on various approaches, see, for example, Valdorf et al. (2021).

[0003] For high-throughput selection of target-specific binders, recombinant antibody libraries, generic libraries, naive (non-immune) libraries or immune libraries are applied. Immune libraries aim at specific target selection, while so-called "general libraries" can be subdivided into naive, synthetic and semi-synthetic approaches, allowing unbiased selection of novel binders (see also Almagro et al. 2019). After obtaining individual clones from iterative selection rounds, typical antibody binding assays ranging from ELISA to immunoprecipitation are used to screen the target binding and biophysical properties of the polypeptide binders. Alternative selection methods have evolved from the "gold standard" of recombinant display library selection, often customized to the needs, such as the method reported by Lakzaei et al., (2018), which discloses a biopanning method for diphtheria toxin binders using soluble antibody capture, which can capture binders that specifically recognize natural epitopes, but still requires acidic elution conditions and cannot be controlled to select specific conformations of interest. Another example is the Yin-Yang biopanning method, which solves the problem of the need for antigen purification by performing affinity selection on crude extracts and obtains specificity using negative selection (blocking agents) before positive phage selection (Lim et al. 2019).

[0004] The application of display technologies that allow the selection of therapeutically relevant Abs is the basis of a huge number of market approved therapeutics by health authorities in the United States, Europe or China. This fact confirms the beneficial impact of these platform technologies on drug discovery. Moreover, the combination of display technologies with microfluidic systems and / or next generation sequencing in antibody creation has made it possible to perform, for example, functional screening, further enriching the toolbox and pipeline of high-throughput selection methods in the therapeutic field. Traditional methods applying phage display methods or alternative methods, as well as further evolved platforms, offer today a high-tech display technology that is widely applied, especially for the selection of polypeptide binders from recombinant antibody libraries, with great potential for drug discovery. However, there is still room for improvement in addressing certain technical bottlenecks, such as the use under native conditions against difficult-to-purify antigens, in order to select binders against conformational epitopes of the target antigen and increase efficiency and specificity against the background when applied in a high-throughput manner. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] Valdorf et al. (2021) [Non-Patent Document 2] Almagro et al. [Non-Patent Document 3] Lakzaei et al., (2018) [Non-Patent Document 4] Lim et al. 2019 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present disclosure is based on the discovery that NANEX technology methods (as detailed below) are applicable to the selection and screening of recombinant antibody libraries under physiological conditions without the need for purified antigen.

[0007] Nanobody-based exchange chromatography (also known as NANEX) is a nanobody (Nb) immuno-substitution purification method that uses a pair of Nbs (trapper as capture agent and stripper as elution agent) that compete for binding to the same or highly overlapping epitopes on the target (as previously described in PCT / EP2020 / 087291) to analytically purify this target protein, yielding small amounts of highly pure protein bound to the high affinity Nb (stripper). Such a highly selective one-step purification method has the advantage that it does not require concentration steps, dialysis or proteolysis and allows maintaining physiological conditions during protein capture and elution. Furthermore, when only one specific Nb is available, the use of Nbs as antigen-binding moieties in the NANEX purification method also allows obtaining pairs by starting from a single binder and designing variants (e.g. mutants) with lower affinity or faster dissociation rates.

[0008] This application relates to a proof of concept demonstrating that integrating NANEX purification methods into display library selection represents a powerful approach that improves the selection procedure to screen binders under mild conditions, even when the protein target is recalcitrant. Specific high affinity target binders were identified very efficiently, even when unbiased Nb libraries were used for selection. Trapping the target protein by NANEX allows the target to be maintained in native physiological conditions and can be provided as a complex sample (e.g., biological sample), eliminating the need for purified target or antigen, resulting in a new and innovative antibody selection method that allows the selection of strong binders from polypeptide binders produced against the complete proteome of the target. Since this cannot be achieved so efficiently using conventional selection procedures, NANEX panning or selection methods are positioned as a breakthrough in drug discovery or tool generation for recalcitrant targets. More specifically, using this selection approach, a remarkable and robust enrichment of various antigens was demonstrated after only 2-3 rounds of selection, and furthermore, this success was independent of their cellular abundance when selected from a proteome-wide immune library. We were also able to identify several families of natural protein binders, even with low numbers of Nb family members (which often disappear after three rounds in conventional selection). In addition to selecting binders of soluble protein targets, we also demonstrated the proof of concept for membrane protein binder screening and the robust isolation of novel binders, specifically shown here for Nb families that may be overlooked by conventional selection methods.

[0009] Although immune libraries against multiple proteins (e.g., the T. evansi secretome in Li et al., 2020) have been produced in llamas in the past, we unexpectedly found that selection by NANEX-purified phage display using a proteome-wide Nb library yielded target-specific binders against the majority of targets tested, demonstrating the selectivity and reliability of this novel selection method. Furthermore, when using, for example, endogenously GFP-tagged yeast clones in combination with GFP-specific NANEX or trapper / stripper pairs against endogenous protein epitopes, it has the advantage of eliminating the need for purified antigens throughout the entire process, making it very attractive to implement in selections where difficult-to-purify antigens are problematic.

[0010] Thus, this selection method has the advantage of obtaining highly specific and therefore selective target protein-polypeptide binder interactions and / or conformation-specific target protein binders, while allowing target purification and subsequent selection of specific target binders under physiological native conditions, both possible under high throughput conditions. Moreover, when applied with tagged target proteins, such as the GFP-specific trapper / stripper presented herein, it provides a universal selection platform using a single trapper / stripper (or capture agent / displacer) pair. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] Thus, a first aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for selecting protein binders from a plurality of binders (e.g., a display library) that specifically bind to a target protein, where NANEX can be used to form an immobilized complex of a capture agent (or a first protein binding agent, also called a trapper) with a target, present the target to the plurality of potential binders, and select protein binders associated with the target at a binding site different from that of the capture agent. The complex is then eluted using an elution agent (or a second protein binding agent, also called a stripper) that outcompetes the trapper for binding to the target, associates with the selected binder, and elutes the target as a tight target-stripper complex. The advantage of such a NANEX selection procedure is that it does not require purified target protein, but rather captures the target from its complex native environment while maintaining a specific / native conformation, and that more / alternative binders can be identified by selection compared to or complementing conventional selection procedures.

[0012] The selection method includes the steps of: a) preparing a sample containing a first protein binder that is immobilized and specifically binds to a target protein and a target protein, and obtaining an immobilized complex in which the target is bound to the first protein binder; b) adding a solution containing a plurality of polypeptide binders to the immobilized complex of step a), allowing the polypeptide binders to specifically bind to the immobilized target protein; c) adding a solution comprising a second protein binding agent that binds to the target protein and competes for the binding with the first binding agent to the solution of step b) to displace the target protein and release the target protein into the solution; and d) collecting an eluate of the second protein binding agent bound to the target protein and isolating the polypeptide binder bound to the target protein.

[0013] Another embodiment is a method in which the second protein binding agent has a higher affinity and / or a lower dissociation rate constant (k off k value) is equal to or less than off Another embodiment relates to a method in which the second and / or first protein binding agent comprises an antigen binding domain that specifically binds to the target protein. More specifically, the antigen binding domain of the first and / or second protein binding agent comprises an immunoglobulin fold and is an antibody or active antibody fragment, a single domain antibody, an immunoglobulin single variable domain (ISVD), a VHH, a Nanobody, or an antigen-binding chimeric protein (also called a MegaBody) defined as an ISVD fused to a scaffold protein through at least two sites, preferably the scaffold protein domain comprises HopQ, YgjK, or a derivative thereof.

[0014] Another embodiment of any of said methods described herein relates to the application, wherein the plurality of polypeptide binders of step b) is provided as a display library of binding agents, said library may more particularly comprise a recombinant antibody library expressing and displaying binding agents that are (monoclonal) antibodies, single domain antibodies, Fabs, ISVDs, VHHs or nanobodies or any active fragments thereof, including immune libraries or non-immune libraries such as naive libraries including (semi-)synthetic libraries.

[0015] In another specific embodiment, the method described herein is carried out using phage display methods known to those skilled in the art, or, applying specific constructs or libraries, the method is carried out using yeast display, ribosome display, bacterial display, or mammalian display.

[0016] Another particular embodiment aimed at increasing the number of polypeptide binders specific for a target protein relates to a method applying an iterative process of selecting polypeptide binders, similar to what is known in the art for panning methods, where steps a) to d) are repeated at least once, preferably two or more times, said iterative process being designated as "x rounds" of selection, particularly when using a phage display library, where the phage-containing eluate collected in step d) is reused to infect E. coli and is returned to step a).

[0017] In another embodiment, the method described herein comprises a surface for immobilizing said target protein, in particular together with said first protein-binding agent, said surface comprising a matrix comprising beads as exemplified herein, such as magnetic beads, or said surface is provided by a resin, a chromatography or polymer column, a plate arrangement, or a microchip.

[0018] Another particular embodiment relates to the method, wherein the target protein is present in a sample that is a complex sample in step a), the complex sample comprising a mixture of components such as biological material, a cell lysate, an extract, a soluble proteome, the proteome of a given cell or tissue type, or a recombinant target protein as part of a protein mixture. Another particular embodiment relates to the selection method, wherein an immunogen is applied to obtain the plurality of polypeptide binders, the immunogen comprising the same type and composition as the sample comprising the target protein in step a). For example, the immunogen comprises a cell lysate applied in an immunogen to generate a display library, such as a recombinant antibody library, such a cell lysate also being applied as a sample comprising the target protein in step a).

[0019] Another method described herein relates to a general method, wherein the first and second protein binding agents specifically bind to a tag, which is present on the target protein, preferably as an N- or C-terminal heterologous tag. In a preferred embodiment, the heterologous tag is specifically recognized by a GFP-specific binder, said embodiment relates to a selection method described herein, wherein the trapper comprises at least the CDRs or the sequence of a VHH of SEQ ID NO: 71 and the stripper comprises at least the CDRs or the sequence of a VHH of SEQ ID NO: 70.

[0020] Another embodiment of the method described herein allows the selection of polypeptide binders that specifically bind to the protein complex eluted in step d) and that directly or indirectly bind to the target protein. More specifically, direct binding to the target can be obtained with polypeptide binders that recognize the target protein itself at a binding site that is different from the trapper / stripper binding site, and indirect binding can be obtained with polypeptide binders that bind to a tag fused to the target protein or to another protein or component that is co-captured in step a) and bound to the immobilization surface (through the target protein). Thus, the indirect polypeptide binders can include binders that specifically bind and recognize a protein or component that is an interactor of the target protein or a heterologous fusion partner / tag of the target protein.

[0021] Therefore, in another aspect, the present invention also relates to a protein complex eluted in step d), comprising said second protein binding agent bound to said target protein, said target protein further bound to at least one further protein, said complex also comprising a polypeptide binder bound to said further protein by the method described herein.

[0022] Another embodiment provides a method for the parallel selection of at least two different target proteins in the selection method described herein by providing in step a) a sample comprising at least two different target proteins, either separately or as fusion or bridged molecules, and adding in steps a) and c) a first and a second protein binder for each of these different target proteins, respectively.

[0023] Another method for the selection of polypeptide binders specific for a target or antigen protein relates to an alternative approach for providing said mixture in step c) of the above method, comprising: a) mixing a sample comprising a plurality of polypeptide binders, preferably a display library, with a target protein sample; b) adding a first protein-binding agent, which is preferably immobilized on a surface or which will be subsequently immobilized, to the mixture of a) to obtain a surface-immobilized complex; c) adding a solution comprising a second protein binding agent that binds to the target protein and competes for the binding with the first binding agent to the solution of step b) to displace the target protein and release the target protein into the solution; and d) collecting an eluate of the second protein binding agent bound to the target protein and isolating the polypeptide binder bound to the target protein.

[0024] In particular, said alternative method is preferably capable of using a purified target protein sample.In a preferred embodiment of said method, said first and / or second protein binding agent comprises a nanobody.

[0025] A final aspect of the present invention relates to the use of the method according to any of the embodiments provided herein for the selection of binders from immune libraries, or for the binning of epitopes on target proteins or for the isolation of novel epitope binders. Furthermore, the use of the method according to the present invention is aimed at the selection of protein binders, especially for high throughput applications in antibody generation and drug discovery. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0026] The following drawings are merely schematic diagrams and are not intended to limit the invention. In the drawings, the size of some elements may be exaggerated and not to scale for clarity. [Figure 1] Schematic diagram of the use of nanobody exchange chromatography (NANEX) to select target-specific antibodies from an antibody display library. The principle of nanobody exchange chromatography can be applied to select target-specific binders, such as antibodies, from a display library. A first nanobody (trapper) covalently linked to a solid support (beads in this figure) is used to immobilize the target. The immobilized target is then incubated with a diverse repertoire (phage display library in this figure) of different binders (e.g., antibodies) that are expressed and displayed to provide a physical correlation between phenotype (binding behavior) and the genotype that encodes it. An optional washing step can be used to remove irrelevant binders or antibodies. As with NANEX, in particular the present invention, a second nanobody (soluble stripper) that competes with the trapper is then used to selectively elute the immobilized target in association with the stripper and the genotype that encodes the target-specific binding domain or antibody. [Diagram 2]Enrichment after first and second rounds of selection with GFP using NANEX. Nanobody exchange chromatography (NANEX) was used to select GFP-specific antibodies from a nanobody display library according to Example 1. Different NANEX beads were generated by coupling GFP trapper (CA15816; SEQ ID NO: 2) to magnetic beads and incubating with different concentrations of GFP to trap the antigen. Trapper-coated beads that were not incubated with GFP were used as negative controls. After incubation with the library, phages were eluted with a GFP-specific stripper (CA12760; SEQ ID NO: 1) or trypsin. Two rounds of selection were performed. Output phages from each elution were harvested by infecting E. coli and enrichment was assessed by comparing serial dilutions of these cells according to Pardon et al., (2014). [Diagram 3]Competitive binding analysis of GFP-specific nanobodies by BioLayer Interferometry. The binding properties of the newly created GFP-specific nanobodies were analyzed by BioLayer Interferometry (BLI) with OctetRed. Biotinylated GFP (100 nM) was captured using streptavidin-coated Octet® biosensors. Picomolar levels of GFP stripper (CA12760; SEQ ID NO: 1) were then allowed to bind to GFP until a plateau was reached. These biosensors saturated with CA12760 were then individually incubated in a solution containing CA12760Nb for each newly created Nb (as specified in the figure legends). The assay was performed at room temperature in 25 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 150 mM NaCl supplemented with 0.1% BSA and 0.005% Tween 20. All nanobodies (CA17517, CA17676, CA17518 in A; CA17674, CA17673, CA17519, CA17520, CA17675 in B) except for the stripper (CA12760 in A) or the irrelevant Nb (CA8780 in A) give rise to a clear mass increase on the sensor and are judged to bind epitopes that do not overlap with the stripper epitope. [Figure 4]Characterization of FBA1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Four FBA1-specific nanobodies (40=Nb clone CA17440 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 3, 41=CA17441-SEQ ID NO: 4, 42=CA17442-SEQ ID NO: 5, 43=CA17443-SEQ ID NO: 6) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each FBA1-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. The beads functionalized with these FBA1-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing FBA1 as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification: GFP(+)22,G1). After washing, the individual beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye, boiled and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane, and the Western blot (B) was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged FBA1. [Diagram 5] Characterization of PDC1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Two PDC1-specific nanobodies (51 = Nb clone CA17451 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 7, hereafter 52 = CA17452 - SEQ ID NO: 8) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each PDC1-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. The beads functionalized with these PDC1-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing PDC1 as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification: GFP(+)12,F8). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane, and the Western blot (B) was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged PDC1. [Figure 6]Characterization of SSA1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Six SSA1-specific nanobodies (60=Nb clone CA17560 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 19, 61=CA17561-SEQ ID NO: 20, 62=CA17562-SEQ ID NO: 21, 63=CA17563-SEQ ID NO: 22, 64=CA17564-SEQ ID NO: 23, 65=CA17565-SEQ ID NO: 24) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each SSA1-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. These SSA1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4°C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing SSA1 as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification: GFP(+)10,E4). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). Separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and Western blots (B) were developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged SSA1. [Figure 7]Characterization of PGI1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Three PGI1-specific nanobodies (55=Nb clone CA17455 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 15, 56=CA17456-SEQ ID NO: 16, 57=CA17457-SEQ ID NO: 17) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each PGI1-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. The beads functionalized with these PGI1-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing PGI1 as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification: GFP(+)12,H11). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane, and Western blots (B) were developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged PGI1. [Figure 8]Characterization of SIS1, ALD6 and BMH1 specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. One SIS1 specific nanobody (44=Nb clone CA17444 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 9), three ALD6 specific nanobodies (53=CA17453-SEQ ID NO: 10, 54=CA17454-SEQ ID NO: 11, 60=CA17460-SEQ ID NO: 12) and two BMH1 specific nanobodies (58=CA17458-SEQ ID NO: 13, 59=CA17459-SEQ ID NO: 14) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assays. Each target specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. Beads functionalized with these target-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysates of engineered yeast strains expressing the targets as GFP-tagged proteins (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification Names SIS1:GFP(+)22,E5, ALD6:GFP(+)15,F1, BMH1:GFP(+)27,D5). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot (B) was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of the GFP-tagged targets. [Figure 9]Characterization of SXM1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. One SXM1-specific nanobody (30=Nb clone CA17530 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 18) was characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. SXM1-specific nanobodies were covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. The SXM1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing SXM1 as a GFP-tagged protein (GFP(+)04,H9). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot (B) was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged SXM1. [Figure 10] NANEX to capture and immobilize PGI1 binders from the soluble fraction of yeast lysates. Beads were functionalized with the PGI1 specific nanobody CA17455 clone (SEQ ID NO: 15) and used as trappers. The CA17455 functionalized beads were then incubated in the presence of EBY100 lysate for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator and washed. These beads were then incubated for 1 h in the presence of the same PGI1 specific nanobody and the target (PGI1) was eluted in association with several interacting proteins (LYS20 UniProt P48570, TDH3 UniProt P00359, PNC1 UniProt P53184) as shown by mass spectrometry. [Figure 11]Characterization of GR-LBD-specific nanobodies selected from a GR-LBD antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Five GR-LBD-specific nanobodies (97=Nb clone CA17797 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 35, 98=CA17798-SEQ ID NO: 36, 99=CA17799-SEQ ID NO: 37, 00=CA17800-SEQ ID NO: 38, 01=CA17801-SEQ ID NO: 39) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each GR-LBD-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. These GR-LBD-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of HEK293T lysates (with or without DEX) transfected with PCDNA3.1 plasmid containing the GFP-GR (full-length) gene expressing full-length GR as a GFP-tagged protein. After washing, these individual beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye, boiled, and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (not shown). Separated proteins were transferred to PVDF membranes and Western blots were developed with a GR-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged GR. NC represents negative control Nb. GFP=27 kDa; GFP-GR fusion=117 kDa; GR (truncated)=90 kDa. [Figure 12-1]Enrichment after first and second rounds of selection with 94 different GFP-POIs using NANEX. NANEX was used to select POI-specific antibodies from a proteome-wide antibody display library according to Example 3. GFP trapper (CA15816 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 2) was coupled to magnetic beads and dispensed into 96 different wells. NANEX beads were incubated with different lysates of artificial yeast expressing GFP-POIs (Table 3). After several washing steps, phages were added to the wells. After incubation with the library, phages were eluted with a GFP-specific stripper (CA12760 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1). Two rounds of selection (R1 in A and R2 in B) were performed. Output phages from each elution were harvested by infecting E. coli and enrichment was evaluated by comparing serial dilutions of these cells according to Pardon et al. (2014). The figure shows the data for each well, which are listed in chronological order in Table 3 (A1-F12 from left to right on the x-axis represent each of the 94 GFP-targets, while G12 and H12, the last samples on the x-axis, represent controls). [Figure 12-2]Enrichment after first and second rounds of selection with 94 different GFP-POIs using NANEX. NANEX was used to select POI-specific antibodies from a proteome-wide antibody display library according to Example 3. GFP trapper (CA15816 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 2) was coupled to magnetic beads and dispensed into 96 different wells. NANEX beads were incubated in the presence of different lysates (Table 3) of artificial yeast expressing GFP-POIs. After several washing steps, phages were added to the wells. After incubation with the library, phages were eluted with a GFP-specific stripper (CA12760 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1). Two rounds of selection (R1 in A and R2 in B) were performed. Output phages from each elution were harvested by infecting E. coli and enrichment was evaluated by comparing serial dilutions of these cells according to Pardon et al. (2014). The figure shows the data for each well, which are listed in chronological order in Table 3 (A1-F12 from left to right on the x-axis represent each of the 94 GFP-targets, while G12 and H12, the last samples on the x-axis, represent controls). [Figure 13]Characterization of POI-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. One HSP104-specific nanobody (04=CA18504-SEQ ID NO: 40), one MET6-specific nanobody (05=CA18505-SEQ ID NO: 41), two SBA1-specific nanobodies (08=Nb clone CA18508 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 42, as well as 09=CA18509-SEQ ID NO: 43), one SOD1-specific nanobody (10=CA18510-SEQ ID NO: 44) and one ENO1-specific nanobody (38=CA17938-SEQ ID NO: 45) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assays. Each POI-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. Beads functionalized with these POI-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of lysates of engineered yeast strains expressing the POI as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identification: GFP(+)05,A2 (HSP104); GFP(+)07,D4 (MET6); GFP(+)30,A6 (SBA1); GFP(+)33,F8 (SOD1) and GFP(+)17,D12 (ENO1)). After washing, the beads were analyzed by SDS-PAGE (not shown) and Western blots were developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of the GFP-tagged POI. [Figure 14]Characterization of PGI1-specific nanobodies selected from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a PGI1-specific trapper / stripper pair. Six PGI1-specific nanobodies (91=Nb clone CA17791 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 46, 92=CA17792-SEQ ID NO: 47, 93=CA17793-SEQ ID NO: 48, 94=CA17794-SEQ ID NO: 49, 95=CA17795-SEQ ID NO: 50, 96=CA17796-SEQ ID NO: 51) were characterized by coimmunoprecipitation assay. Each PGI1-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. These PGI1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4°C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing PGI1 as a GFP-tagged protein (yeast GFP fusion collection identifier: GFP(+)12,H11). After washing, the beads were analyzed by SDS-PAGE (A). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and the Western blot was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged PGI1 (B). 55 = Nb clone CA17455 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 15, used as a trapper / stripper for PGI1, as a positive control. [Figure 15]Characterization of rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies selected from rVGLUT1 antibody library by NANEX using rVGLUT1-specific trapper / stripper pair. rVLGUT1-specific nanobodies (25=Nb clone CA18425 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 53) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. The rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies were covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. The rVGLUT1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of HEK293T lysate transfected with a plasmid expressing full-length rVGLUT1 as a cMyc-YFP tagged protein. After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE without boiling (not shown). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a c-Myc-specific antibody to confirm the presence of c-Myc-tagged rVGLUT1. NC represents the negative control Nb. [Figure 16]Characterization of rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies selected from a synaptic proteome antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. Six rVGLUT1-YFP-specific nanobodies (24=Nb clone CA18024 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 54, 37=CA18437-SEQ ID NO: 55, 38=CA18438-SEQ ID NO: 56, 39=CA18439-SEQ ID NO: 57, 40=CA18440-SEQ ID NO: 58, 41=CA18441-SEQ ID NO: 59) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each rVGLUT1-YFP-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. These rVGLUT1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of HEK293T lysates transfected with a plasmid carrying the gene expressing full-length rVGLUT1 as a c-Myc-YFP tagged protein. After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE without boiling (not shown). Separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and Western blots were developed with a c-Myc specific antibody to confirm the presence of c-Myc tagged rVGLUT1. NC represents a negative control Nb. [Figure 17]Characterization of GR-specific nanobodies selected from a GFP-GR antibody library by NANEX using an mCherry-specific trapper / stripper pair. Seven GR-specific nanobodies (98=Nb clone CA18498 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 62, 99=CA18499-SEQ ID NO: 63, 01=CA18501-SEQ ID NO: 64, 02=CA18502-SEQ ID NO: 65, 03=CA18503-SEQ ID NO: 66, 85=CA18585-SEQ ID NO: 67, 86=CA18586-SEQ ID NO: 68) were characterized by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Each GR-specific nanobody was covalently coupled to NHS-agarose beads. These GR-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of HEK293T lysate transfected with pcDNA3.1 plasmid incorporating the mCherry-GR (full-length) gene expressing full-length GR as an mCherry-tagged protein. After washing, these individual beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye, boiled, and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (not shown). Separated proteins were transferred to PVDF membranes and Western blots were developed with a GR-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GR. NC represents the negative control Nb. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0027] The present invention will be described below with reference to certain drawings and in particular embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the following description, but only to the claims. Reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Of course, it should be understood that not all aspects or advantages can be achieved in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention. Thus, for example, one skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention can be embodied or performed to achieve or optimize one advantage or group of advantages taught herein, without necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages that may be taught or suggested herein. The present invention, including its features and advantages, can be best understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The aspects and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood in conjunction with the embodiments described below. Whenever "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" is used anywhere in this specification, it means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, when the phrase "in one embodiment" or "in one embodiment" appears in various contexts throughout this specification, it is not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may be referring to the same embodiment. Similarly, it should be understood that in the description of representative embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention may be grouped together in a single embodiment, drawing, or description for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and facilitating understanding of one or more of the various aspects of the invention, but this method of disclosure should not be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim.

[0028] definition When an indefinite or definite article, e.g., "a" or "an" or "the," is used to refer to a singular noun, it includes the plural of that noun unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and claims, the term "comprises" is used without excluding other elements or steps. Furthermore, in the present specification and claims, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used to distinguish between similar elements and not necessarily to indicate a sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms used in this specification and claims are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein may be performed in other orders than those described or illustrated herein. The following terms or definitions are intended solely to facilitate the understanding of the present invention. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms used in this specification have the same meaning as those used by those skilled in the art of the present invention. For definitions and terms in the art, practitioners are particularly referred to Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 4 th ed., Cold Spring Harbor Press, Plainsview, New York (2012); and Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology (Supplement 114), John Wiley & Sons, New York (2016). Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, and / or computational biology).

[0029] The terms "protein", "polypeptide" and "peptide" are further used interchangeably herein to refer to a polymer of amino acid residues and its variants and synthetic analogues. For example, a partial amino acid sequence derived from its original protein after trypsin digestion may be referred to as a "peptide". Thus, these terms apply to amino acid polymers in which one or more amino acid residues are synthetic non-natural amino acids, such as chemical analogues of the corresponding natural amino acids, as well as to natural amino acid polymers. The terms also include post-translational modifications of polypeptides, such as glycosylation, phosphorylation and acetylation. Based on the amino acid sequence and modifications, the atomic or molecular mass or molecular weight of a polypeptide is expressed in (kilo)daltons (kDa). A "protein domain" is a distinct functional and / or structural unit in a protein. Typically, a protein domain is responsible for a specific function or interaction and contributes to the overall role of the protein. Domains can occur in a variety of biological contexts, and similar domains may occur in proteins with different functions.

[0030] "Isolated" or "purified" refers to material that is substantially or essentially free from components that normally accompany it in its native state. For example, an "isolated polypeptide" or "purified polypeptide" refers to a polypeptide that has been purified from the molecules which naturally surround it, e.g., a polypeptide binder that has been removed from the molecules which flank it in a sample or mixture, such as a production host, or a target protein as designated and disclosed herein. An isolated protein or peptide can be produced by amino acid chemical synthesis, recombinant production, or purification from a complex sample.

[0031] As used herein, the term "fused to" is used interchangeably with "linked to", "conjugated to" and "ligated to", and specifically refers to "genetic fusion", e.g., by recombinant DNA techniques, and "chemical and / or enzymatic conjugation" that results in a stable covalent linkage, such as a heterologous tag covalently attached to a target protein.

[0032] A "homolog" or "homologs" of a protein includes peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins, and enzymes that have amino acid substitutions, deletions, and / or insertions relative to the unmodified protein and have the same biological and functional activity as the original unmodified protein. As used herein, the term "amino acid identity" refers to the degree to which sequences are identical on an amino acid basis in a comparison window. Thus, "percentage of sequence identity" is calculated by comparing two optimally aligned sequences in a comparison window, determining the number of positions at which identical amino acid residues (e.g., Ala, Pro, Ser, Thr, Gly, Val, Leu, Ile, Phe, Tyr, Trp, Lys, Arg, His, Asp, Glu, Asn, Gln, Cys, and Met, sometimes represented by one-letter codes herein) are present in both sequences, determining the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the comparison window (i.e., window size), and multiplying the resulting number by 100 to determine the percentage of sequence identity. As used herein, a "substitution," or "mutation," or "variant" results from the replacement of one or more amino acids or nucleotides with another amino acid or nucleotide, respectively, compared to the amino acid or nucleotide sequence of a parent protein or fragment thereof. It is understood that a protein or fragment thereof may have conservative amino acid substitutions that have substantially no effect on the activity of the protein.

[0033] The term "wild-type" refers to a gene or gene product isolated from a natural source. A wild-type gene is that gene most frequently found in a population and is therefore arbitrarily referred to as the "normal" or "wild-type" form of the gene. On the other hand, the terms "altered," "mutant," "artificial," or "variant" refer to a gene or gene product that exhibits modified sequence, post-translational modifications, and / or functional properties (i.e., altered characteristics) when compared to the wild-type gene or gene product. However, naturally occurring mutants can also be isolated and are identified by the fact that they have altered characteristics when compared to the wild-type gene or gene product.

[0034] The term "binding site" refers to a region of a molecule or molecular complex that preferentially associates with another chemical entity, compound, protein, peptide, antibody or Nb as a result of its shape and charge. In the context of antibody-related molecules, the terms "epitope" or "conformational epitope" are also used interchangeably herein. The term "pocket" includes, but is not limited to, a cleft, a channel or a site. The term "portion of a binding pocket / site" or "partially overlapping epitope" refers to less than all of the amino acid residues that define a binding pocket, binding site or epitope. For example, the atomic coordinates of the residues that make up a binding pocket may be unambiguous to define the chemical environment of the binding pocket or may be useful to design inhibitor fragments that can interact with these residues. For example, the portion of residues may be key residues that play a role in target protein binding or may be residues that are spatially related and define the three-dimensional compartment of the binding pocket or confer a conformational function. As used herein, "adjacent" or "minimally overlapping" binding sites refer to non-overlapping (but binding to adjacent sites) amino acids, or to a maximum overlap of about 30% in binding amino acid residues. As used herein, "epitope" refers to an antigenic determinant of a polypeptide that constitutes a binding site or binding pocket on a target molecule. The epitope on a target protein need only contain at least one amino acid essential for binding of a binding agent, but preferably contains at least three amino acids in a spatial conformation unique to the epitope. Typically, an epitope consists of at least four, five, six, seven such amino acids, and more typically at least eight, nine, ten such amino acids. Methods for determining the spatial conformation of amino acids are known in the art and include, for example, X-ray crystallography, multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance, cryo-EM, hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX)-MS, cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS), epitope binning, or, less frequently, neutron scattering, X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) or small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques.As used herein, a "conformational epitope" refers to an epitope that comprises amino acids in a spatial conformation that is unique to the folded three-dimensional conformation of a polypeptide. In general, a conformational epitope is composed of amino acids that are discontinuous in a linear sequence, but that assemble in the folded structure of a protein. Alternatively, a conformational epitope may be composed of a linear sequence of amino acids that assumes a conformation that is unique to the folded three-dimensional conformation of a polypeptide (not present in the denatured state). In a protein complex, a conformational epitope may be composed of amino acids that are discontinuous in the linear sequence of one or more polypeptides, but that assemble when the individual folded polypeptides associate in a unique quaternary structure. Similarly, a conformational epitope, as used herein, may be composed of amino acids in a linear sequence of one or more polypeptides that assemble into a conformation that is unique to the quaternary structure. The term "conformation" or "conformational state" of a protein generally refers to the range of structures that a protein can adopt at any given time. Those skilled in the art will recognize that determinants of conformation or conformational state include the primary structure of a protein as reflected in the amino acid sequence of the protein (including modified amino acids) and the environment surrounding the protein. The conformation or conformational state of a protein also refers to structural features such as protein secondary structure (e.g., alpha helices, beta sheets, among others), tertiary structure (e.g., the three-dimensional folding of the polypeptide chain), and quaternary structure (e.g., interactions of the polypeptide chain with other protein subunits). Post-translational and other modifications of the polypeptide chain, such as ligand binding, phosphorylation, sulfation, glycosylation, or attachment of hydrophobic groups, among others, can affect the conformation of a protein. In addition, environmental factors such as the pH, salt concentration, ionic strength, and osmolality of the surrounding solution, and interactions with other proteins, cofactors, and the like, can also affect protein conformation.The conformational state of a protein can be determined by functional assays of activity or binding to another molecule, or by physical methods such as X-ray crystallography, NMR or spin labeling, among others. For general discussions of protein conformation and conformational states, see Cantor and Schimmel, Biophysical Chemistry, Part I: The Conformation of Biological. Macromolecules, WH Freeman and Company, 1980, and Creighton, Proteins: Structures and Molecular Properties, WH Freeman and Company, 1993.

[0035] "Binding" refers to any interaction, whether direct or indirect. A direct interaction involves contact between binding partners. An indirect interaction refers to any interaction in which the interacting partners interact with each other in a three or more molecule complex. The interaction can be a fully indirect interaction through one or more bridging molecules, or a partially indirect interaction in which there is direct contact between the partners but is stabilized by one or more additional interactions. As used herein, the term "specifically binds" refers to a binding domain that recognizes a specific target but does not substantially recognize or bind to other molecules in a sample. Specific binding does not mean exclusive binding. Specific binding, on the other hand, means that a protein has some high affinity or preference for one or a few types of its binders. As used herein, the term "affinity" generally refers to the degree to which a ligand, chemical, protein, or peptide binds to another (target) protein or peptide in such a way as to shift the equilibrium of single protein monomers toward the presence of a complex formed by their binding. Affinity is generally measured by the equilibrium dissociation constant (K) used to assess and rank the strength of biomolecular interactions. D) is the affinity constant (1 / K ). The binding of an antibody to its antigen is a reversible process, and the rate of the binding reaction is proportional to the concentrations of the reactants. At equilibrium, the rate of formation of the [antibody][antigen] complex is equal to the rate of dissociation into its components, [antibody] + [antigen]. The equilibrium or affinity constant (1 / K D ) can be defined using measured values ​​of the reaction rate constants. D The smaller the value, the greater the affinity of the antibody for its target. The rate constants for both directions of the reaction are: Association rate constant (k on ) is the "association rate" (k on ) is the part of the reaction used to calculate the dissociation rate constant (k off ) is the "dissociation rate" (k off ) is the portion of the reaction used to calculate the binding rate. In the measurements presented herein, the shallower the slope, the slower the dissociation rate and the stronger the antibody binding. Conversely, the steeper the decline, the faster the dissociation rate and the weaker the antibody binding. The experimentally measured ratio of the dissociation rate to the binding rate (k off / k on ) and K D Calculate the value of K D is considered to be a value independent of the assay used, taking into account the standard error, but the binding and dissociation rates are measured and their K D There are several methods known to those skilled in the art for calculating the

[0036] "Binding agent" or "binding factor" are used interchangeably herein and refer to a molecule capable of binding to another molecule, said binding being preferably specific, recognizing a specific binding site, pocket or epitope. A binding agent can be of any kind or type, independent of its origin. A binding agent can be chemically synthesized, naturally occurring, recombinantly produced (and purified), or designed and synthetically produced. Thus, said binding agent can be, in particular, a small molecule, a chemical, a peptide, a polypeptide, an antibody, or any derivative thereof, such as a peptidomimetic, an antibody mimetic, an active fragment, a chemical derivative, etc. The binding can be obtained by covalent or non-covalent linkage.

[0037] The term "antibody" refers to an immunoglobulin (Ig) molecule or a molecule containing an immunoglobulin (Ig) domain that specifically binds to an antigen. An antibody can further be an intact immunoglobulin from natural or recombinant sources, or an immunoreactive portion of an intact immunoglobulin. The term "active antibody fragment" refers to any antibody or antibody-like structure that has high affinity for an antigenic determinant or epitope by itself and contains one or more CDRs responsible for such specificity. Non-limiting examples include immunoglobulin domains, Fab, F(ab)'2, scFv, heavy-light chain dimers, immunoglobulin single variable domains (ISVD), nanobodies (or VHH antibodies), domain antibodies, and single chain structures such as complete light chains and complete heavy chains.

[0038] The terms "antibody fragment" and "active antibody fragment" or "functional variant" as used herein refer to a protein comprising an immunoglobulin domain or antigen-binding domain that includes the CDRs and / or structural features necessary for specific binding to a target protein. Antibodies are generally tetramers of immunoglobulin molecules. The term "immunoglobulin (Ig) domain", or more specifically "immunoglobulin variable domain" (abbreviated "IVD") refers to an immunoglobulin domain that essentially consists of four "framework regions", referred to in the art and below as "framework region 1" or "FR1", "framework region 2" or "FR2", "framework region 3" or "FR3", and "framework region 4" or "FR4", respectively, and three "complementarity determining regions" or "CDRs" located between these framework regions, referred to in the art and below as "complementarity determining region 1" or "CDR1", "complementarity determining region 2" or "CDR2", and "complementarity determining region 3" or "CDR3", respectively. Thus, the general structure or sequence of an immunoglobulin variable domain can be represented as FR1-CDR1-FR2-CDR2-FR3-CDR3-FR4. The immunoglobulin variable domain (IVD) confers specificity to an antibody for an antigen by having an antigen-binding site. Generally, in a conventional immunoglobulin, a heavy chain variable domain (VH) and a light chain variable domain (VL) interact to form an antigen-binding site. In this case, the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of both VH and VL contribute to the antigen-binding site, i.e., a total of six CDRs are involved in forming the antigen-binding site. In view of the above definition, the antigen-binding domain of a conventional four-chain antibody (e.g., an IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD or IgE molecule known in the art), or an Fv fragment such as a Fab fragment, an F(ab')2 fragment, an Fv fragment such as a disulfide-linked Fv fragment or an scFv fragment, or a diabody derived from such a conventional four-chain antibody (all known in the art), binds to a respective epitope of an antigen via a pair of (associated) immunoglobulin domains such as a light chain variable domain and a heavy chain variable domain, i.e., a VH-VL pair of immunoglobulin domains, which together bind to a respective epitope of an antigen.Immunoglobulin single variable domain (ISVD) as used herein means a protein having an amino acid sequence comprising four framework regions (FR) and three complementarity determining regions (CDR) according to the format FR1-CDR1-FR2-CDR2-FR3-CDR3-FR4. The term "immunoglobulin domain" according to the present invention means "immunoglobulin single variable domain" (abbreviated "ISVD"), which is synonymous with the term "single variable domain", and defines a molecule in which an antigen binding site is present in and formed by a single immunoglobulin domain. It means an immunoglobulin single variable domain that differs from "conventional" immunoglobulins or fragments thereof, in which two immunoglobulin domains, in particular two variable domains, interact to form an antigen binding site. The binding site of an immunoglobulin single variable domain is formed by a single VH / VHH or VL domain. Thus, the antigen binding site of an immunoglobulin single variable domain is formed by no more than three CDRs. Thus, the single variable domain may be a light chain variable domain sequence (e.g. a VL sequence) or a suitable fragment thereof, or a heavy chain variable domain sequence (e.g. a VH sequence or a VHH sequence) or a suitable fragment thereof, so long as it is possible to form a single antigen-binding unit (i.e. a functional antigen-binding unit that essentially consists of a single variable domain, such that the single antigen-binding domain does not need to interact with another variable domain to form a functional antigen-binding unit). In one embodiment of the invention, the immunoglobulin single variable domain is a heavy chain variable domain sequence (e.g. a VH sequence), and more particularly, the immunoglobulin single variable domain may be a heavy chain variable domain sequence derived from a conventional four-chain antibody or a heavy chain variable domain sequence derived from a heavy chain antibody. For example, the immunoglobulin single variable domain may be a (single) domain antibody (or a suitable amino acid sequence for use as a (single) domain antibody), a "dAb" or dAb (or a suitable amino acid sequence for use as a dAb), a nanobody (as defined herein, including but not limited to a VHH), or other single variable domain, or any suitable fragment of any one of them.In particular, the immunoglobulin single variable domain may be a Nanobody (as defined herein) or a suitable fragment thereof. It is to be noted that Nanobody®, Nanobodies® and Nanoclone® are registered trademarks of Ablynx NV (a Sanofi Company). For a general description of Nanobodies, reference is made to the detailed description below and the prior art cited therein, e.g. WO 2008 / 020079. "VHH domains", also referred to as VHH, VHH domains, VHH antibody fragments and VHH antibodies, were originally described as antigen-binding immunoglobulin (Ig) (variable) domains of "heavy chain antibodies" (i.e. "antibodies without light chains"; Hamers-Casterman et al (1993) Nature 363:446-448). The term "VHH domain" was chosen to distinguish these variable domains from the heavy chain variable domains present in conventional four-chain antibodies (referred to herein as "VH domains") and the light chain variable domains present in conventional four-chain antibodies (referred to herein as "VL domains").For a detailed description of VHHs and nanobodies, see the review article by Muyldermans (Reviews in Molecular Biotechnology 74:277-302, 2001) and the following patent applications cited as general background art: WO 94 / 04678, WO 95 / 04079 and WO 96 / 34103 in the name of Vrije Universiteit Brussel; WO 94 / 25591, WO 99 / 37681, WO 00 / 40968, WO 00 / 43507, WO 00 / 65057, WO 01 / 40310, WO 01 / 44301, EP 1 134231 and WO 02 / 48193 in the name of Unilever; WO97 / 49805, WO01 / 21817, WO03 / 035694, WO03 / 054016 and WO03 / 055527 to the VIB; WO03 / 050531 to Algonomics NV and Ablynx NV; WO01 / 90190 to the National Research Council of Canada; WO03 / 025020 (=EP1433793) to the Institute of Antibodies; and Ablynx Reference is made to WO04 / 041867, WO04 / 041862, WO04 / 041865, WO04 / 041863, WO04 / 062551, WO05 / 044858, WO06 / 40153, WO06 / 079372, WO06 / 122786, WO06 / 122787 and WO06 / 122825 in the name of Ablynx NV, and further to other published patent applications in the name of Ablynx NV. As described in these documents, Nanobodies (in particular VHH sequences and partially humanized Nanobodies) can be characterized in particular by the presence of one or more "hallmark residues" in one or more of the framework sequences. For the numbering of the amino acid residues of the IVD, different numbering schemes can be applied.For example, numbering can be performed according to the AHo numbering scheme for all heavy chain variable domains (VH) and light chain variable domains (VL) proposed by Honegger, A. and Plueckthun, A. (J. Mol. Biol. 309, 2001) as applied to VHH domains from camelids. Alternative methods for numbering the amino acid residues of VH domains are also known in the art, which can be applied to VHH domains as well. Compartmentalization of FR and CDR sequences can be performed, for example, by using the Kabat numbering system as applied to VHH domains from camelids in the article Riechmann, L. and Muyldermans, S., 231(1-2), J Immunol Methods. 1999. Note that V. HAs is well known in the art for VH and VHH domains, the total number of amino acid residues in each of the CDRs can vary and may not correspond to the total number of amino acid residues designated by the Kabat numbering (i.e., one or more positions according to the Kabat numbering may not be occupied in the actual sequence, or the actual sequence may contain more amino acid residues than expected by the Kabat numbering). Thus, in general, the Kabat numbering may or may not correspond to the actual numbering of the amino acid residues in the actual sequence. The total number of amino acid residues in VH and VHH domains will usually be in the range of 110-120, and often 112-115. However, sequences shorter or longer than this range may also be suitable for the purposes described herein. The CDR regions may be determined according to various methods, such as assignment based on contact analysis and binding site topography as described in MacCallum et al. (J. Mol. Biol. (1996) 262, 732-745). Alternatively, AbM (AbM is an antibody modeling package from Oxford Molecular Ltd., as described at http: / / www.bioinf.org.uk / abs / index.html), Chothia (Chothia and Lesk, 1987; Mol Biol. 196:901-17), Kabat (Kabat et al., 1991; thThe annotation of the CDRs may be performed according to the International Standards for Immunology (ISI) (Immunology 1999, 1999 edition, NIH publication 91-3242), IMGT (LeFranc, 2014; Frontiers in Immunology. 5(22):1-22), and / or alternative annotations including aHo, Gelfand, and Honegger (see, for example, for reference, Dondelinger et al. 2018, Front Immunol 9:2278). The annotations further include the compartmentalization of CDR regions and framework regions (FRs) in proteins that contain immunoglobulin domains, and are methods and systems known to those skilled in the art, so that the skilled artisan can apply these annotations to any immunoglobulin protein sequence without undue burden. These annotations differ slightly from each other, but each is intended to include the regions of the loops involved in binding to the target. When referring to CDRs in this application, at least one of the above annotations can be applied, with the IMGT annotation being preferred.

[0039] VHHs or Nbs are often grouped into different sequence families or superfamilies to allow clustering of closely related sequences of clones derived from the same ancestor during B cell maturation (Deschaght et al. 2017. Front Immunol. 10;8:420). This grouping is often based on the CDR sequences of the Nbs, e.g. each Nb family is defined as a cluster of closely related sequences (of clones) with a threshold sequence identity in the CDR3 region. Thus, within a single VHH family as defined herein, the CDR3 sequences are preferably identical or very similar in amino acid composition, have equal length of the CDR3 sequences and have at least 80%, or at least 85%, or at least 90% identity, resulting in Nbs of the same family that bind to the same binding site and have the same effect or functional impact.

[0040] As used herein, the terms "determining," "measuring," "assessing," "identifying," "screening," and "assaying" are used interchangeably and include both quantitative and qualitative measurements.

[0041] Detailed Description The present invention relates to a novel selection approach for identifying polypeptide binders specific to a protein of interest from a library of multiple binders, particularly protein binders, which firstly integrates the NANEX affinity displacement method to isolate and immobilize the target protein by binding to a first protein binder coupled to a surface, and secondly utilizes the NANEX affinity displacement principle concept to elute the polypeptide binder in complex with the target protein. This integrated selection method provides a medium to high throughput approach in recombinant antibody library screening, as well as high selectivity that complements the capabilities of display technologies. As is evident from the following description of the initially established Nanobody Exchange Chromatography (NANEX), this novel method is the first of its kind in the field of recombinant antibody library selection and panning, and has several advantages inherent to the NANEX system. Furthermore, this novel approach offers several advantages and improvements over (conventional) in vitro selection methods using phage display, in which antigen-specific phage antibodies bind to their targets by exposure to immobilized antigen during biopanning, followed by recovery of antigen-bound phages and subsequent infection of bacteria for selection. Most in vitro selection methods rely on purified antigens and require harsh conditions (high salt, extreme pH, proteolysis) to elute phages from immobilized targets. In contrast, NANEX selection allows trapping and immobilization of complex antigens from natural samples, followed by application of a phage library, followed by target-specific retrieval of antigen-bound phages, all under fully natural conditions. NANEX also allows differential selection of Nbs that bind epitopes that do not overlap with trapper-stripper pairs.

[0042] NANEX affinity substitution Nanobody exchange chromatography (herein referred to as "NANEX" and based on the method previously described in PCT / EP2020 / 087291) refers to the purification of proteins by affinity displacement chromatography, which utilizes small antigen-binding moieties to establish a favorable dynamic context. In particular, a pair of target-specific protein binders that specifically bind epitopes on a target in a competitive manner with each other are used in a complementary dynamic context. A pair of binders to the same target can contain competing or non-overlapping binding sites, or can contain different binding sites for non-overlapping or different epitopes. In general, affinity displacement is performed by transient sandwich complexes through the binder pair within a given dose and dynamic relationship. However, when using a pair with the same or overlapping epitopes, the binding kinetics and type of binders affect the balance between cross-blocking or displacement. In NANEX, when immunoglobulin single variable domains (ISVDs), or more specifically antigen binding domains based on Nbs, are used as displacement agents, the dissociation rate constant (k offIt has been found that targeting of the same epitope or a highly overlapping and therefore competing epitope with the trapper on the target protein is most efficiently obtained if the binding affinity of the trapper is lower than that of the first protein binder. Furthermore, purely based on their competitiveness, the same binder such as a nanobody can be used for binding (or trapping) and elution (or stripping) to purify the target and obtain a (suboptimal) satisfactory yield of purified protein in the elution fraction. In high-throughput applications such as the selection method described in this application, where a binder capable of completely overcoming the competition with the trapper for binding to the target is desired, it has been found that the use of conventional antibody binders (such as monoclonal antibodies) against the same epitope would almost block any displacement reaction, and in order to avoid such blocking of the epitope due to competition, one would be forced to use a protein binder such as an antibody that binds to an adjacent epitope or a minimally overlapping epitope compared to the trapper. However, the use of NANEX at least provides a second protein binder comprising an ISVD as a stripper that binds to the same epitope as the first protein binder, or a substantially identical epitope or a largely overlapping epitope, and the second protein binder comprising the ISVD has a lower dissociation rate constant (k off) results in a very efficient displacement of the first protein binder, allowing the target protein to be eluted with high yield and high specificity. Thus, ISVD-type antigen binders are compact, but highly specific, providing a competitive binding mode dynamics to efficiently displace another antigen-binding protein, and are advantageous over larger conventional antibodies with large antigen-binding sites / paratopes (composed of residues from six CDRs, instead of three CDRs in ISVD). Also, this reaction is perfectly suitable for integration into the selection method described herein, since the polypeptide binders derived from multiple binders bound to the target protein can remain in complex with the target protein and can be co-eluted with the stripper-target complex, even though it can be performed under mild physiological conditions, and can be efficiently eluted. Thus, the integration of NANEX into this novel selection approach, combined with the NANEX purification and selection conditions set out in this application, has led to the next generation of improved selection of polypeptide binders, especially in antibody drug discovery. Indeed, the results exemplified herein clearly demonstrate that the integrated NANEX selection method is capable of reliably and consistently selecting displayed polypeptide binders in a more efficient and thorough manner than traditional panning selection methods.

[0043] "ISVD replacement" or more specifically "nanobody exchange" or "nanobody exchange chromatography" or "NANEX" are used interchangeably in this application and are used in antibody drug discovery and target-binder identification approaches, which have been used mainly in analytical purification for easy elution of high purity protein complexes in the past. Thus, the strength of this novel selection method is the use of NANEX to present the target, since Nb trapper / stripper provides high affinity binders that compete for the same epitope or highly overlapping epitopes and do not interfere with other binders with different epitopes. This allows not only to find binders of new or different epitopes, but also to find binders of a given conformation of the target (when using trapper / stripper that locks the target in a specific conformation).

[0044] Thus, when using NANEX purification, since the eluted complex comprises a stripper or displacer, it is advantageous to apply a second protein binder (called stripper, in the case of nanobodies called nanostripper) comprising an ISVD, and further functionalize said second protein binder, i.e. to confer a specific function to the protein complex to be eluted. Such functionalization may mean either visualization of the protein complex (by fluorescence or by labeling of the binder) or function as a chaperone or adaptor protein (e.g. but not limited to megabodies), for example to elute the target in the functionalized complex (see also below). Furthermore, after the elution step and regeneration operation, the affinity matrix, which can be any kind of surface, such as (magnetic) beads, columns, wells of a plate or resins, is ready for the next affinity purification and / or selection cycle and can be used in high throughput platforms, such as screening platforms, chips or microfluidics configurations or devices.

[0045] By using the selection method described herein integrating NANEX or nanobody exchange chromatography, a breakthrough in high throughput selection of binders for several target classes, such as intractable or difficult to purify proteins, can be foreseen. Furthermore, protein binders that conformationally recognize antigens or targets locked in a predefined conformational state by the trapper, such as stabilized conformation, active / inactive conformation, more specifically agonist, partial agonist or biased agonist conformation, can be selected. Alternatively, when the selection method described herein uses a NANEX trapper / stripper of a heterologous tag, such as GFP, a universal high throughput selection platform can be developed, which further adds advantages to automated and highly efficient antibody screening technology. With the rapid advancement of this type of technology in biotechnology, the present invention can be foreseen to have a strong impact on the efficiency and potential of novel therapeutic drug screening, and to increase the throughput and potential of proteomics, MS analysis, structural analysis and other analyses.

[0046] NANEX selection of polypeptide binders Thus, in a first aspect, a method for selecting a polypeptide binder specific to a target protein comprises: a) mixing a first protein binding agent immobilized on a surface, which specifically binds to a target protein, with a sample containing the target protein to obtain a complex on the surface; b) adding to the complex of step a) a sample comprising a plurality of polypeptide binders; c) adding to the mixture of step b) a sample containing a second protein binding agent that competes with the first binding agent for binding to the target protein and displaces the first binding agent from the target protein by specifically binding to the target protein; and d) eluting said second protein binding agent bound to said target protein and isolating the polypeptide binder bound to said target protein.

[0047] The feature "competing for binding to the target protein" necessary for efficient elution of the target-stripper complex in relation to the polypeptide binder can be interpreted as the stripper competing for the same epitope, or it can mean competing in another manner, such as kinetic or allosteric, since it is known that allosteric interaction with the target is representative of the binding mode, especially in the field of Nbs. Thus, in one embodiment, the stripper can compete for binding to the target by binding to a minimally overlapping or adjacent epitope, or the stripper can interfere with the trapper-target interaction by binding to an allosteric site on the target, inducing a conformational change in the target. Mutually competitive binders can be established using several methods known in the art, including, but not limited to, competitive ELISA, alphalisa, Octet measurements or biolayer interferometry (BLI), SPR Biacore, microscale thermophoresis (MST), among others.

[0048] In this way, a competitive elution mode is used to elute the target from its immobilization surface, so there is no need to compete for selected polypeptide binders (which ideally also bind to the target during the elution step), although it is desirable to use at least an ISVD as a second protein binder or stripper that binds to the antigen in this competitive elution as used in NANEX, since the use of an ISVD or Nb gives more favorable kinetics than, for example, the use of a traditional large antibody as the displacing agent.

[0049] The method of the invention includes a second protein binding agent that is present in solution and is soluble under elution conditions, preferably physiological conditions known to those skilled in the art. The term "soluble" as used herein refers to the fact that the protein binding agent is in a functional form, i.e. capable of specifically binding to its target within the expected range of its affinity for the epitope. The first protein binding agent is immobilized in step a) of the method of the invention and can be immobilized on a surface by covalent or other coupling means. The binding agent can be coupled to beads, which can be agarose or magnetic beads, or can be present on a surface or matrix, more particularly packed as an affinity column that can be suitable for preparative and analytical scale, more particularly microcolumns with column volumes less than about 1 mL, or sub-micromolar volumes, or placed on a chip using microfluidics technology. The first protein binding agent is most preferably immobilized on a solid support or resin. "Resin" or "affinity resin", used interchangeably herein, is an activated affinity chromatography support for immobilizing biomolecules such as ISVDs or other protein binders. In a particular embodiment, the first protein binder comprises an ISVD and is coupled to the resin using coupling methods known in the art (see examples). The method described herein has the advantage of using physiological conditions for the elution in step d). Optionally, depending on the type of sample used in a) and the duration of the selection, the immobilization surface can be subjected to a gentle regeneration step and the immobilized complexes can be reused in a second round, although for the third and subsequent rounds of selection, it is preferred to repeat steps a) to d) of the method to ensure the integrity and stability of the target protein.

[0050] Depending on the type of sample, after step a) or step b) of the method of the invention, it may be necessary to optionally wash the immobilization surface under neutral, very mild or harsh conditions and to repeat the washing step in order to remove any unbound bulk components present in the sample containing the target protein or to remove any remaining unbound binders of the plurality of polypeptide binders.

[0051] In another embodiment, the method described herein further comprises the steps of: off is the k off Furthermore, the method provides optimal results when the first binding agent or trapper has a higher dissociation rate or an equal or lower affinity compared to the second binding agent, in other words, when the second binding agent has a lower dissociation rate and / or an equal or higher affinity for the epitope compared to the first binding agent. According to the current state of the art, the dissociation rate constant (or dissociation rate or k off ) and the association rate constant (or binding rate or k on ) is K D =k off / k on where K D is defined as the dissociation constant, which, as detailed in the definition above, is inversely related to the affinity of the binder for its target. That is, (k on If the dissociation constant K is the same D The lower the value, the higher the affinity. Alternatively, (k off are identical) k on The higher the K D Thus, in the selection methods of the present invention, the protein binders described herein have low k for the same epitope, or substantially the same epitope, or for highly overlapping epitopes. off and / or affinity (or K D ) are relatively different. More specifically, in the methods described herein, the k of a second binding agent for the same epitope, or a substantially identical epitope, or a largely overlapping epitope of the target protein isoff is the k of the first binder off Here, "lower" means a value that is 2 times lower, 5 times lower, 10 times lower, 30 times lower, 100 times lower, 200 times lower, 300 times lower, 400 times lower, or 500 times lower. off The value is the k off It is more preferable that the range is from 1 / 2 to 1 / 10, or from 1 / 5 to 1 / 20, or from 1 / 10 to 1 / 30, or 1 / 100 or less, compared to the value.

[0052] Similarly, the affinity of the second binding agent for the epitope of the target protein can be equal to or higher than the affinity of the first binding agent, where "higher affinity" refers to a "K" of the second protein binding agent. D "value" is the K value of the first protein binder D K less than half, or less than one-fifth, or less than one-tenth, or less than one-twentieth, or less than one-hundredth, or in the range of less than one-half to one-2000th of the value D In a preferred embodiment, the purification method described herein is a method for determining the K value for an epitope of a target protein. D The present invention also discloses a first binding agent having a K value between 1 mM and about 1 nanomolar, and a K value for any substantially identical or largely overlapping epitope of the target. D The second protein binding agent has a K value of 1 nanomolar or less, optionally up to 1 picomolar. D is in the nanomolar to millimolar range (i.e., 10E-9 to 10E-3), and the second binder is K D More preferably, the K value is in the femtomolar to micromolar range (i.e., 10E-12 to 10E-6), and most preferably, the relative difference between the first and second binding agents is at least a factor of 2. In one embodiment, the K value of the first protein binding agent is D The value is the K Dis at least twice as long as the displacing agents bind to the same or largely overlapping epitopes, off Differences in values ​​create differences.

[0053] Multiple Polypeptide Binders The method described herein involves the selection from a sample comprising a "plurality of polypeptide or proteinaceous binders", which can be practically any type of protein or peptide or polypeptide, and in the broadest sense includes a collection of proteins that are used as candidates for specific binding to a target protein, and thus in the broadest sense, said "plurality of polypeptide binders" can be derived, for example, from a cell extract, a specific tissue or signaling cascade, or an unbiased proteomic sample. In a more specific embodiment, the "plurality of protein binders" is provided as a sample comprising a repertoire of binders as fragments expressed and / or displayed from a library. More specifically, for antibody-type molecules, display libraries are widely known. For example, recombinant antibody libraries often provide protein binders selected to specifically bind to a target protein, and therefore fall within the scope of such samples comprising a plurality of protein binders.

[0054] Thus, "multiple polypeptide binders" may be provided structurally by binding agents comprising a binding domain (potentially binding to a target protein), may be provided by proteins, peptides or peptidomimetics, and more particularly by "antigen-binding" domains present in a number of different antibodies and antibody-like molecules as described herein, including, but not limited to, antibodies or active antibody fragments such as Fab, Fab' and F(ab')2, Fd, single chain Fv (scFv), single chain antibodies, disulfide-linked Fv (dsFv) and fragments comprising a VL or VH domain, heavy chain antibodies (hcAb), single domain antibodies (sdAb), minibodies, variable domains derived from camelid heavy chain antibodies (VHH or nanobodies), variable domains of novel antigen receptors derived from shark antibodies (VNAR), protein scaffolds including alphabodies, designed alkylin repeat domains (DARPins), fibronectin type III repeats, anticalins, knottins, artificial CH2 domains (nanobodies), among others.

[0055] Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the "plurality of polypeptide binders" is provided by a sample comprising a display library, allowing selection for phenotype-genotype correlation as described herein, which is key to facilitating the selection of antigen-specific antibodies or binders (polypeptides comprising an antigen-binding domain) and is an important feature of antibody display technology used to identify therapeutic hits. Thus, the term "display library" as used herein refers to a recombinant library that allows for the physical correlation of phenotype (antigen-binding behavior) and genotype of a repertoire of polypeptide binders.

[0056] Furthermore, recombinant antibody libraries of the type contemplated herein include mAb libraries based on immune fragments (biased towards a given specificity present in immunized animals or innately or infected humans) or naive fragments (not biased towards a specificity present in the immune system). The latter type of fragments can be derived from non-immune natural or semi-synthetic sources. Non-immune (or naive) libraries are derived from natural, non-immunized, rearranged V genes (e.g. from IgM B cell pools) in order to reduce antigen-induced bias in the repertoire and were the first libraries used to isolate anti-self antibodies that were otherwise difficult to obtain by immunization. Synthetic antibody libraries are constructed entirely in vitro using oligonucleotides that introduce complete or adapted degenerate regions into the CDRs of one or more V genes.

[0057] As is known in the art, several display technologies allow for different approaches in the selection of recombinant antibody libraries, with phage display being the predominant technology, although other display methods including yeast display, ribosome display, bacterial display, and mammalian display are also contemplated in the methods described herein.

[0058] In certain embodiments, the selection methods described herein are used for multiple rounds of selection in an iterative process to enrich for polypeptide binders present in a library, such as a phage display library used in the methods described herein. The harvested eluate provides the phage solution for re-infecting E. coli to provide the next round of phage, particularly if the harvested eluate contains phage displaying target-specific Nbs bound to the target-stripper complex.

[0059] Target protein samples and trapper / stripper pairs in NANEX selection As mentioned above, the target protein of the method described herein provides an epitope for the first and second protein binders (trapper and stripper) added in steps a) and d) of the method, which epitopes can be native, naturally occurring and / or endogenously derived epitopes on the target protein. When the trapper and stripper recognize a native or endogenous protein as present in the sample of step a), the target can be captured from the sample, resulting in an immobilized antigen-trapper complex. An alternative method is to present the epitope on a recombinantly produced target protein provided as a purified or partially purified sample, without the need for a tag per se. A pair of protein binders (trapper / stripper) that specifically bind to an untagged target protein can be screened and selected to provide a pair of mutually competing binders to compete for the same target, or designed to provide a pair of higher and lower affinity protein binders. Indeed, the use of a three-dimensional structure of the stripper or second protein binder bound to the target can reduce affinity or increase the binding affinity of the target. off It is then possible to design mutations in the binding site of the second protein binder that increase the binding rate, resulting in a compatible trapper or first protein binder. Moreover, it is also possible to determine pairs based on one of the binders once the sequence is known, as it is a simpler method and does not require structural information. In the examples, as shown for the non-limiting example of GFP as the "target protein", based on screening of different binders and analyzing their competitiveness by epitope mapping using BLI, alternatively, based on the sequences of the binder or stripper at nanomolar levels, alanine mutation scanning of the CDR3 region, which is known to be the most important for defining the binding kinetics, can be performed, and new pairs with lower dissociation rate constants can be identified to function as trappers in the NANEX method. Thus, by introducing single or multiple mutations, different k offAlternatively, pairs of protein binding agents that bind the same epitope with affinity are obtained.

[0060] Multivalent formats have higher avidity than monovalent formats, and k off Since the high elution yield and target protein purity are also optimal, in an alternative embodiment of the method in which the trapper and stripper comprise an ISVD, a "monovalent" format may be used as the trapper and a "multivalent" format may be used as the stripper. As used herein, the term "monovalent format" refers to an ISVD that is capable of recognizing only one antigenic determinant, and the term "multivalent" format refers to an ISVD that is capable of recognizing two or more antigenic determinants, including but not limited to bivalent, trivalent or tetravalent formats. Furthermore, instead of a multivalent stripper, a multiparatopic or multispecific stripper may be envisaged, which may comprise identical building blocks that bind to the same antigenic determinant and at least one or more building blocks that may be different from each other and that can bind to the same or different epitopes on the target protein or to epitopes on different target proteins in complex with the first target protein.

[0061] In another embodiment, the method described herein utilizes a first and a second protein binding agent (trapper and stripper), at least one of which comprises an antigen binding domain as defined herein, or more specifically comprises at least one antibody, an ISVD, a VHH, a nanobody, or an antigen binding chimeric protein as defined herein as an ISVD fused to a scaffold protein via at least two sites, said scaffold protein domain preferably comprising HopQ, YgjK or a derivative or variant thereof. The last mentioned definition of said antigen binding chimeric protein is in fact also called a megabody and thus can be applied as a first and / or second protein binding agent in the method of the invention. The term megabody as used herein refers to a novel fusion protein disclosed in Steyaert et al. (WO2019 / 086548A1), which refers to a fusion protein in which an antigen-binding domain is linked to a scaffold protein, the scaffold protein being coupled to the antigen-binding domain at one or more amino acid sites accessible or exposed on the surface of the domain, thereby disrupting the topology of the antigen-binding domain. The antigen-binding chimeric protein is further characterized in that it maintains its antigen-binding function compared to an antigen-binding domain that is not fused to the scaffold protein. The megabody described in this application is a specific megabody or antigen-binding chimeric protein that comprises an immunoglobulin single variable domain (ISVD) or nanobody in its antigen-binding domain, which is fused or coupled to a scaffold protein at an accessible surface (β-turn or loop excluding CDRs) of the ISVD domain, thereby disrupting the topology of the antigen-binding domain and maintaining its antigen-binding function, i.e., specific epitope recognition. In a particular embodiment, the second protein binding agent refers to a megabody or an antigen-binding chimeric protein in which the ISVD is linked to a scaffold protein by inserting the scaffold protein into the first β-turn connecting β-strands A and B of the ISVD (as defined according to the IMGT nomenclature and in WO2019 / 086548A1).In yet more specific embodiments, the scaffold protein used herein is a HopQ or YgjK scaffold protein, and the fusion of the scaffold disrupts the topology of the ISVD but not its overall three-dimensional structure or its epitope binding specificity. As used herein, "HopQ" or a scaffold "derived from HopQ" refers to the protein scaffold of the adhesin domain of type 1 HopQ of Helicobacter pylori strain G27 (protein database: PDB5LP2), or its circularly permuted protein (also known as cHopQ or c7HopQ) (see also WO2019 / 086548A1). As used herein, "YgjkK" or a scaffold "derived from YgjK" refers to the protein scaffold of Escherichia coli K12 YgjK (PDB3W7S) or its circularly permuted gene encoding said protein (also known as cYgjK) (see also WO2019 / 086548A1).

[0062] Another embodiment relates to a method in which the sample comprising the target protein of step a) described herein in the selection method provides a target protein having an epitope recognized by a first and a second protein binder present on a scaffold protein (target protein) in a megabody. The megabody may preferably be made using a scaffold protein derived from HopQ or YgjK protein, so that the HopQ or YgjK protein scaffold comprises an epitope that specifically binds to the protein binder of the method. The pair of protein binders that specifically bind to a scaffold protein epitope present in a megabody as disclosed herein or by Steyaert et al. (WO2019 / 086548A1) or that may be described in other documents, has the advantage that the method can be applied to capture or remove the target protein bound to the megabody from a complex mixture, or as a general-purpose selection tool, similar to other tagged target proteins.

[0063] Another embodiment relates to a method as described herein, wherein the target protein comprises a tag or a heterologous tag or label or a detectable label. The term "detectable label" or "label" or "tagging" refers to a detectable label or tag that allows detection, visualization and / or isolation, further purification and / or immobilization of the target protein as described herein, or, if present on the stripper, of the eluted complex, or the isolated or purified (poly)peptide or complex, and is intended to include any label / tag known in the art for these purposes. In another embodiment, the protein binding agent specifically binds to an epitope on a tag present on a fusion protein comprising the target protein. Fluorescent labels or tags (i.e. fluorochromes / fluorophores), such as fluorescent proteins (e.g. GFP, YFP, RFP, etc.) and fluorescent dyes (e.g. FITC, TRITC, coumarins and cyanines); luminescent labels or tags, such as luciferase; and (other) enzymatic labels (e.g. peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, β-galactosidase, urease or glucose oxidase). affinity tags such as chitin-binding protein (CBP), maltose-binding protein (MBP), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), poly(His) (e.g. 6xHis or His6), Strep-tag®, Strep-tag II® and Twin-Strep-tag®; solubilization tags such as thioredoxin (TRX), poly(NANP) and ubiquitin, or small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMO) or SMT3; chromatography tags such as the FLAG tag; epitope tags such as the V5 tag, myc tag and HA tag, or EPEA (CaptureSelect C tag; US9518084B2), or even intein-chitin binding domain (intein-CBD), streptavidin / biotin-based tags, His-Patch (thioredoxin-based) Also included are reporter tags such as ThioFusion, or HaloTag, as well as HRP or alkaline phosphatase. Numerous non-limiting examples are given, for example, in Kimple et al. (2015 Table 9.9.1).Combinations of any of the above labels or tags are also included.

[0064] In another embodiment, the method described herein may comprise, as a sample containing a target protein for application in step a), a sample that is a "complex sample" or complex mixture of proteins and / or other components. The sample may be an in vitro mixture of components, or a biological sample, where the term "biological sample" refers in particular to serum, urine, cells and tissues among other body fluids. The "complex mixture" may also be provided as a lysate or cell extract, or any mixture of components containing a target protein, which may be a recombinantly produced target protein, optionally spiked into the complex mixture (to capture a given conformation under different conditions or in a specific environment). The "complex sample" may be provided as a complete proteome, or optionally as a soluble proteome solution containing the complete protein repertoire of an organism, cellular context or tissue corresponding to the proteome of a given signaling cascade, disease stage or pathology, etc.

[0065] In a particular embodiment, the "complex sample" comprising the target protein provided in step a) of the method is also applied as an immunogen or antigen to immunize an animal to obtain the "multiple polypeptide binders" used in step b) of the method. In such a method, a display library comprising a less or partially biased or unbiased plurality of polypeptide binders is applied for selection, instead of a biased library that is often generated only against a specific (single) antigen (see examples).

[0066] As mentioned above, the method described herein is not only capable of eluting a complex comprising the target protein and the stripper bound to the selected polypeptide binder, but also, particularly when starting from a complex sample in step a), said complex may also comprise other proteins bound to the target, where the target protein binds to the surface via the first protein binder, resulting in the binding of the target and interactors to said surface. Thus, in such an embodiment, the selection of protein binders upon addition of a plurality of protein binders allows the identification of protein binders that bind directly or indirectly to the target protein. Direct binding means that there is a direct interaction and specificity for the target protein, whereas indirect binding in the present application means that said polypeptide binder binds to another component of the eluted protein complex, such another component including a protein (from the complex sample used in step a)) that is itself bound to the complex that binds to the target protein and is present in said complex. Thus, in a particular embodiment, said method is not only capable of identifying a polypeptide binder of the target protein, but also a polypeptide binder of its interactors that are co-immobilized in step a) of said method.

[0067] Finally, the above polypeptide binder selection methods can be seen to have great utility and it will be clear to one of skill in the art when and how they are useful, including, but not limited to, their use in drug discovery to select specific binders from recombinant antibody libraries and for epitope binning or identification of novel epitopes on targets, i.e. epitopes that are distinct from known binders (such as trappers and strippers). As envisaged herein, the selection methods are suitable for medium and even high throughput applications.

[0068] Although specific embodiments of the methods, samples and products, specific configurations and materials and / or molecules according to the present disclosure have been described above, it should be understood that various changes or modifications in form and details can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following examples are intended to more specifically illustrate certain embodiments and should not be considered as limiting the present application. The present application is limited only by the scope of the claims. EXAMPLES

[0069] Introduction The invention is based on the principle of the nanobody exchange chromatography method (herein referred to as "NANEX" and based on the method previously described in PCT / EP2020 / 087291), which is applied here to select target-specific binders, e.g. antibodies, from a display library. In particular, a first binder (herein referred to as "trapper"), in particular a nanobody, attached (preferably covalently) to a solid support is used to immobilize an antigen or target or protein of interest (used interchangeably herein). The immobilized antigen is then incubated with a diverse repertoire of different binders (e.g. antibodies) that are expressed and displayed, e.g. by phage display, yeast display, ribosome display or any other method, in such a way as to provide a physical correlation of the phenotype (binding behavior) of each binding domain and the genotype that codes for it. An optional washing step can be used to remove irrelevant binders or antibodies. Similar to the NANEX purification method, the present method in particular then uses a second binder (referred to herein as a "stripper" or "displacer"), in particular a nanobody, that competes with the trapper for binding to the antigen, in association with the stripper and the antigen-specific binding domain or antibody and the genotype encoding them, to selectively elute the immobilized antigen. The binders can then be amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched in binding agents or antibodies specific for the antigen, and the cycle can be repeated until the binders dominate the population and can be characterized as monoclonal binding domains or antibodies (Figure 1). Thus, the present application provides a novel method for the selection of specific target protein binders that for the first time integrates the principles of immune displacement purification by NANEX to increase the efficiency and selectivity of the selection process.

[0070] [Example 1] NANEX for selecting novel GFP-specific nanobodies from an antibody library using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair and GFP protein as a target.

[0071] Generation of GFP antibody library. Llamas were immunized six times, once a week, with a total of 850 μg of GFP (SEQ ID NO: 25) and a phage display library was generated as described below (Materials and Methods).

[0072] Creation of novel GFP-specific nanobodies. To create novel GFP-specific nanobodies that bind epitopes that do not overlap with those of the trapper / stripper pair, a GFP-specific trapper with the identifier CA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2) with an affinity for GFP of 2.7 nM was immobilized on magnetic beads according to the manufacturer's instructions. These trapper-coated beads were blocked and washed five times with PBS before use. These trapper-coated beads were mixed with various concentrations of GFP (SEQ ID NO: 25) from 0.1 nM to 100 nM, and GFP was trapped on the NANEX beads. Trapper-coated beads that were not incubated with GFP were used as negative controls. After incubation with GFP (antigen), all magnetic beads were washed three times as per the conventional method and incubated in a 96-well plate in the presence of the phage-surface-displayed GFP antibody library. After 2 hours of incubation at 4°C, the beads were washed 12 times with PBS-Tween as per the conventional method. To select novel GFP-specific antibodies that bind epitopes that do not overlap with those of the Trapper / Stripper pair, we selectively disrupted the non-covalent interaction of Trapper with GFP by adding the high affinity stripper CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1), which competitively binds to an epitope that overlaps with the Trapper epitope. For this, we incubated the beads for 30 min with high affinity CA12760 (GFP-specific stripper), which binds to the same epitope on GFP. GFP-bound phages were selectively eluted with this GFP-specific stripper. Phages were then amplified to generate novel antibody-enriched repertoires. For comparison, bound phages were eluted with trypsin from Trapper-coated beads generated with 100 nM GFP as previously described (Pardon et al., 2014).

[0073] In the second round of selection with NANEX, the same strategy was followed, using output phage from beads coated with Trapper made with 100 nM GFP for all beads. The enrichment observed after one or two rounds of selection is shown in Figure 2. When elution is performed with trypsin, a significantly higher background is observed after two rounds of selection compared to NANEX. Eight different GFP-specific nanobody families were selected based on their CDR3 sequences (Nb clone CA17517 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 26, followed by CA17518-SEQ ID NO: 27, CA17519-SEQ ID NO: 28, CA17520-SEQ ID NO: 29, CA17673-SEQ ID NO: 30, CA17674-SEQ ID NO: 31, CA17675-SEQ ID NO: 32, CA17676-SEQ ID NO: 33).

[0074] Epitope analysis. To demonstrate that the newly selected nanobody families bind epitopes on the target that are distinct from the trapper / stripper epitopes, Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) binding experiments were performed. For this, a streptavidin biosensor was loaded with biotinylated GFP and then CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1), a GFP stripper with picomolar affinity, was allowed to bind to GFP. After washing, this biosensor loaded with the GFP-CA12760 complex was incubated with the newly created Nb. In both cases, a further increase in mass was observed, arguing that all these nanobodies bind different epitopes and do not displace CA12760 (Figure 3).

[0075] [Example 2] NANEX for selecting novel target-specific nanobodies from an antibody library using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair and a target protein tagged with GFP.

[0076] A trapper / stripper pair, such as the GFP-specific pair introduced in Example 1, can also be used to first capture a GFP-tagged protein of interest from a complex mixture (e.g., cell lysate) and selectively elute the GFP-tagged protein of interest from a matrix (beads, plates, etc.). In this example, a nanobody repertoire from an immune library generated by immunizing a llama with the human glucocorticoid receptor ligand binding domain (GR-LBD) was displayed on phages. The GFP-tagged GR was immobilized using a GFP-specific trapper covalently linked to a solid support. This immobilized antigen GFP-GR was then incubated with a nanobody display library derived from the immunized animal using the KingFisher™ Flex purification system (ThermoScientific). As with NANEX, and particularly in the present invention, a GFP-specific stripper that competes with the trapper was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GFP-GR in association with the LBD-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The phage selectively recovered by this GFP-specific stripper were then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched in antibodies, the specific stripper was then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched in LBD-specific antibodies (specifically, our Nbs), and this cycle was repeated until LBD-specific nanobodies dominated the population and could be characterized as monoclonal LBD binders.

[0077] Generation of GR-LBD antibody library. A construct encoding the ligand-binding domain (LBD, 369-777) of the human glucocorticoid receptor (GR) was used to express recombinant LBD in the cytoplasm of E. coli in the presence of dexamethasone (Dex). The GR-LBD domain was purified to homogeneity as a soluble protein by affinity purification (Ni-NTA) and then dialyzed against buffer (20 mM NaH2PO4 pH 8.0, 150 mM NaCl, 10% glycerol, 1 mM DTT, and 10 μM Dex). A llama was immunized weekly for 6 weeks with a total of 110 μg of GR-LBD, and a phage display library was generated as described (Materials and Methods).

[0078] Creation of novel GR-LBD-specific nanobodies. The full-length gene encoding the human glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) was introduced into the pCDNA3 expression vector to generate fusions of the target tagged with GFP. The vector was transfected into HEK293T cells using polyethylenimine (PEI) as the transfection agent. 48 hours after transfection, 50 million cells were harvested, washed with ice-cold PBS buffer and lysed using a Dounce homogenizer in 5 mL of lysis buffer (10 mM Hepes pH 7.4, 10 μM Dex, 10% glycerol, 10 μM ZnCl2, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 2.5 mM DTT, 0.5% NP40 substitute) supplemented with 50 μg / ml DNAse I and protease inhibitors. The lysate was clarified by centrifugation at 20,000 g. The supernatant containing the GFP-tagged GR (target) was collected and incubated in a 96-deep well block for 1 h at 4 °C in the presence of 20 μL of magnetic beads covalently functionalized with a GFP-specific trapper, and the GFP-tagged GR was immobilized on the beads. The beads were collected using a KingFisher flex device and washed with 0.5 mL of wash buffer (10 mM Hepes pH 7.4, 10 μM Dex, 10% glycerol, 10 μM ZnCl2, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 2.5 mM DTT) and then incubated with phages (1.4 × 10 phages) displaying the GR-LBD nanobody library. 14) for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were then washed 9 times with 0.5 mL of wash buffer. A GFP-specific stripper nanobody was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GR in association with the GR-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The eluted phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells, which were incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000 g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as glycerol stocks for later use. Non-transfected (containing no GFP-tagged protein) HEK293T lysates were spiked with 20 μg wild-type GFP and used as a (negative) control.

[0079] After three rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected, and the encoding plasmids were transformed into an E. coli WK6 expression strain to express and purify each nanobody of interest (Nb clone CA17797 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 35, followed by CA17798-SEQ ID NO: 36, CA17799-SEQ ID NO: 37, CA17800-SEQ ID NO: 38, CA17801-SEQ ID NO: 39). The specificity of the GR-specific nanobodies was verified by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. These GR-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of lysates from HEK293T cells transfected with the GFP-GR vector. After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a GR-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged GR ( FIG. 11 ).

[0080] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method can easily select target-specific antibodies from an antibody library using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair and a target protein tagged with GFP.

[0081] [Example 3] NANEX for selecting novel target-specific binders from a proteome-wide antibody library using GFP-specific trapper / stripper pairs and GFP-tagged targets.

[0082] Trapper / stripper pairs, such as the GFP-specific pair introduced in Example 1, can also be used to first capture a GFP-tagged protein of interest from a complex mixture (e.g. cell lysate) onto a matrix (beads, plate, etc.). As with NANEX, the method specifically then uses a second nanobody (stripper) that competes with the trapper, in conjunction with antigen-specific binding domains or antibodies and the genotypes that encode them, to selectively elute the immobilized antigen.

[0083] In Example 3, a llama was immunized with all soluble yeast proteins (soluble yeast proteome) to elicit an immune response against all soluble yeast proteins. The nanobody repertoire of this immunized animal was displayed on the phage surface to generate a proteome-wide antibody library. In parallel, a GFP-tagged FBA1 was immobilized using a GFP-specific trapper covalently attached to a solid support (Huh et al., 2003). This immobilized antigen (GFP-FBA1) was then incubated with the nanobody display library derived from the immunized animal using a KingFisher Flex device. Similar to NANEX, and in particular in the present invention, a GFP-specific stripper that competes with the trapper was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GFP-FBA1 in association with the FBA1-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. Phages selectively recovered by this GFP-specific stripper were then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched for FBA1-specific antibodies, and the cycle was repeated until FBA1-specific nanobodies dominated the population and could be characterized as monoclonal FBA1 binders.

[0084] Generation of a proteome-wide antibody library. A llama was immunized once a week for 6 weeks with 3 mg total soluble yeast proteins (soluble proteome) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain EBY100 (ATCC® MYA-4941™) to generate a proteome-wide antibody library. To prepare this proteome-wide mixture of soluble antigens, a 1-liter culture of EBY100 was grown in YPD medium and harvested at mid-log phase (OD600=0.6). Cells were harvested by centrifugation and resuspended in PBS supplemented with 50 μg / ml DNAse I and EDTA-free protease inhibitor (cOmplete™ Roche). Cells were then lysed using a French press and centrifuged at 20,000 g for 30 min. The supernatant containing total soluble protein was collected, syringe filtered using a 0.22 μm filter, aliquoted, and stored at −80° C. The total protein concentration in the lysate was determined to be 1.5 mg / mL by BCA protein quantification (Pierce™ BCA Protein Assay Kit, 23225, ThermoFisher). After immunization, a phage display library was generated as described (Materials and Methods).

[0085] Creation of novel FBA1-specific nanobodies. Using NANEX, GFP-FBA1 was selectively captured onto Trapper-coated magnetic beads (see Example 1) from the lysate of an artificial yeast strain (Yeast GFP fusion collection identification name: GFP(+)22,G1) expressing FBA1 (strain name YKL060C) as a GFP-tagged protein (Huh et al., 2003). These magnetic beads were washed and phages (1.4 × 10 phages) displaying the proteome-wide nanobody library were added. 14) and washed again. A GFP-specific stripper nanobody was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GFP-FBA1 in association with the FBA1-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface by utilizing a KingFisher Flex device. The eluted phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day the culture was centrifuged at 3000g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as a glycerol stock for later use. Yeast lysate from the reference strain EBY100 (containing no GFP-tagged protein) was spiked with 20 μg wild-type GFP and used as a (negative) control.

[0086] Characterization of FBA1-specific nanobodies. After three rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown E. coli TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected. Based on their CDR3 sequences, four different FBA1-specific nanobodies (Nb clone CA17440 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 3, followed by CA17441-SEQ ID NO: 4, CA17442-SEQ ID NO: 5, and CA17443-SEQ ID NO: 6) from four different sequence families were selected. The encoding plasmids were transformed into the E. coli WK6 expression strain, and each nanobody of interest was expressed and purified. The specificity of the FBA1-specific nanobodies was confirmed by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. The beads functionalized with these FBA1-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate expressing native FBA1 or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing FBA1 as a GFP-tagged protein (GFP(+)22,G1). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (Figure 4). The separated proteins were further transferred to a PVDF membrane and the Western blot was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged FBA1 (Figure 4). For each FBA1-specific nanobody thus analyzed, when co-immunoprecipitated with EBY100 lysate, a major band was observed at 39 kDa, which corresponds to the expected molecular weight of FBA1. Furthermore, when incubated with lysates from a yeast strain expressing FBA1 as a GFP-tagged protein, a major band was observed at 66 kDa, which corresponds to the molecular weight of GFP-FBA1 (27 kDa + 39 kDa = 66 kDa). Western blot analysis with an anti-GFP antibody confirmed that the 66 kDa band contained the GFP tag.The corresponding bands (39 kDa and 66 kDa) were further confirmed to be FBA1 by mass spectrometry analysis.

[0087] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method can easily select target-specific antibodies from proteome-wide antibody libraries.

[0088] [Example 4] NANEX for parallel selection of target-specific binders from a proteome-wide antibody library using GFP-specific trapper / stripper pairs and individual targets tagged with GFP.

[0089] To prove that the NANEX selection method described here is broadly applicable to the generation of antibodies against diverse targets, we followed a parallel approach to select specific binders of 12 different soluble yeast proteins (Table 1) from a proteome-wide antibody library. For this, we selected 12 artificial yeast strains (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection, ThermoFisher), each expressing a different protein of interest tagged with GFP. These proteins were selected according to their abundance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ranging from FBA1 (YKL060C), one of the most abundant proteins in yeast, to RIF2 (YLR453C), a protein that controls telomere length, with less than 1000 molecules per cell (SGD Project. http: / / www.yeastgenome.org).

[0090] [Table 1]

[0091] Using the GFP-specific trapper introduced in Example 1, each GFP-tagged target was captured individually onto beads from the cell lysate of the corresponding artificial yeast strain. These individual beads were then individually incubated with the proteome-wide antibody library, and the GFP-specific stripper was used to selectively elute the various GFP-tagged proteins of interest in association with the antigen-specific binding domains or antibodies and the genotypes that encode them. The phages recovered by the GFP-specific stripper were then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched for antibodies specific for each target protein or protein of interest (POI), and the cycle was repeated until the POI-specific nanobodies dominated the population and were characterized as monoclonal binders.

[0092] Generation of a proteome-wide antibody library The same library described in Example 3 was used to perform the experiments described in Example 4.

[0093] Creation of novel POI-specific nanobodies. As in Examples 1, 2 and 3, 12 different GFP-POIs were selectively captured onto 12 individual Trapper-coated magnetic beads from lysates of artificial yeast strains expressing various POIs (Table 1) as GFP-tagged proteins (Huh et al., 2003) using NANEX. After washing, phages displaying the proteome-wide nanobody library (1.4 × 10 phage count) were collected and analyzed. 14) and washed again. In particular in this example, a GFP-specific stripper nanobody was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GFP-POI in association with the POI-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The selectively recovered phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as a glycerol stock for later use. Yeast lysate from the reference strain EBY100 (containing no GFP-tagged protein) was spiked with 20 μg wild-type GFP and used as a (negative) control.

[0094] For each target selection of binders in this example as detailed in Table 2, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sub-library after three rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown E. coli TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected. The encoding plasmids were transformed into an E. coli WK6 expression strain and each nanobody of interest was expressed and purified. The specificity of the target-specific nanobodies was confirmed by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. Beads functionalized with these target-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4°C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate expressing the native target protein or lysate of an engineered yeast strain expressing the target protein as a GFP-tagged protein (yeast GFP fusion collection identifier as specified in Table 2). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (as shown in the figures specified in Table 2 for each target). The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and Western blots were developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of the GFP-tagged target. For each target-specific nanobody thus analyzed, co-immunoprecipitation with EBY100 lysate gives a major band corresponding to the expected molecular weight of the target protein. Furthermore, incubation with a lysate of a yeast strain expressing the target as a GFP-tagged protein gives a major band with a MW consistent with the molecular weight of the GFP-target. Western blot with anti-GFP confirmed that the latter band contained the GFP tag.

[0095] [Table 2]

[0096] From Example 4, we conclude that NANEX can easily select target-specific antibodies against several different targets from a proteome-wide antibody library.

[0097] [Example 5] High-throughput NANEX for parallel selection of target-specific binders from a proteome-wide antibody library using GFP-specific trapper / stripper pairs and individual targets tagged with GFP.

[0098] Example 4 describes the parallel selection of antigen-specific antibodies for different targets from a proteome-wide antibody library by NANEX using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair. In Example 5, following a parallel (high-throughput) approach, this process was scaled up to generate antigen-specific binders for 94 different antigens tagged with GFP from a proteome-wide antibody library. 96 different selections were performed in parallel using a KingFisher instrument (ThermoFisher Scientific), automating most of the steps.

[0099] For this, 94 representative yeast strains (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection, ThermoFisher), each expressing a different protein of interest tagged with GFP, were selected according to protein MW and abundance (Table 3). Two negative controls (yeast without GFP fusion protein and lysis buffer without yeast lysate) were added to the 96-well plate.

[0100] Llamas were immunized with total soluble yeast proteins (soluble yeast proteome) to elicit an immune response against the total soluble yeast proteins as described in Examples 3 and 4. The nanobody repertoire of these immunized animals was displayed on the phage surface to generate a proteome-wide antibody library.

[0101] The GFP-specific trapper CA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2) introduced in Example 1 was covalently bound to a solid-phase carrier (magnetic beads) and dispensed into 96 different wells. Using each condition, each GFP-tagged target was captured individually on the beads from the cell lysate of the corresponding artificial yeast strain. After capture, the GFP-tagged targets were incubated individually with the proteome-wide antibody library from Examples 3 and 4, and the GFP-specific stripper CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1) was used to selectively elute the various GFP-tagged proteins of interest in association with the antigen-specific binding domains or antibodies and the genotypes that encode them. The phages selectively recovered by this GFP-specific stripper were then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched for antibodies specific to each POI, and the cycle was repeated until the POI-specific nanobodies dominated the population and could be characterized as monoclonal binders.

[0102] [Table 3] TIFF2024523921000004.tif236169TIFF2024523921000005.tif121169

[0103] Generation of a proteome-wide antibody library The same library described in Example 3 was used to perform the experiments described in Example 5.

[0104] Creation of novel POI-specific nanobodies. As in Examples 2-4, 94 different GFP-POIs were selectively captured onto 94 individual Trapper-coated magnetic beads from lysates of artificial yeast strains expressing various POIs (Table 3) as GFP-tagged proteins (Huh et al., 2003). After washing, phages (1.4 × 10 phage count) displaying the proteome-wide nanobody library were isolated and analyzed. 14) and washed again. In particular, in the present invention, a GFP-specific stripper nanobody was then used to selectively elute the immobilized GFP-POI in association with the POI-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The eluted phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37° C. for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37° C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000 g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at −80° C. as a glycerol stock for later use. Yeast lysates from the reference strain EBY100 (containing no GFP-tagged proteins) or lysis buffer (containing no yeast) spiked with 20 μg wild-type GFP were used as (negative) controls. Two rounds of panning were sufficient to observe significant enrichment of nearly all of the 94 different POI-specific phages (Figure 12).

[0105] For each target selection of binders in this example as detailed in Table 3, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sub-library by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown E. coli TG1 cells in LB after two rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology. Ten different POIs that showed different enrichments in R2 were selected, and 12 individual clones for each POI were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected. The encoding plasmids were transformed into an E. coli WK6 expression strain, and each nanobody of interest was expressed and purified. The specificity of the target-specific nanobodies was confirmed by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. These target-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4° C. on a rotator in the presence of lysate of an engineered yeast strain expressing the target protein as a GFP-tagged protein (Yeast GFP Fusion Collection Identifier as specified in Table 3). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a GFP-specific antibody (GFP Mouse mAb (GF28R), MA5-15256, ThermoFisher Scientific) to confirm the presence of the GFP-tagged target (FIG. 13).

[0106] From Example 5 we conclude that NANEX enables the easy selection of target-specific antibodies against several different targets in parallel from a proteome-wide antibody library on a high-throughput scale.

[0107] [Table 4]

[0108] [Example 6] NANEX to select novel yeast PGI1-specific binders from a proteome-wide antibody library using a PGI1-specific trapper / stripper pair and endogenous PGI1 derived from crude yeast cell lysates.

[0109] Examples 1-5 use trapper / stripper pairs to immobilize GFP as a target or a specific target tagged with GFP on a matrix and then elute the target in association with an antigen-specific binding domain or antibody and the genotype that encodes it. Example 6 shows that the trapper / stripper pair can directly bind to untagged target proteins other than GFP for immobilization on a matrix and subsequent elution.

[0110] Generation of a proteome-wide antibody library The same library described in Example 3 was used to perform the experiments described in Example 6.

[0111] Creation of novel PGI1-specific nanobodies. As in Examples 3, 4 and 5, NANEX was used to selectively capture POI from yeast lysates. In particular, the PGI1-specific nanobody CA17455 (SEQ ID NO: 15) was immobilized on magnetic beads as described above and used as a trapper. These beads coated with CA17455 were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate containing endogenous PGI1 target proteins or lysate of an artificial yeast strain (yeast GFP fusion collection identification name GFP (+) 12, H11) expressing PGI1 (strain name YBR196C, Table 1) as a GFP-tagged protein (Huh et al., 2003). After washing, phages (number of phages 1.4 × 10) displaying the proteome-wide nanobody library were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator. 14) and washed again. The same PGI1-specific nanobody (in this case as a stripper) was then used to selectively elute the immobilized PGI1 in association with the PGI1-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The selectively recovered phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day the culture was centrifuged at 3000g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as a glycerol stock for later use. Yeast lysis buffer (without yeast proteins) was used as a (negative) control. Two rounds of panning were sufficient to observe a significant enrichment of PGI1-specific phages.

[0112] Individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected E. coli TG1 cells grown overnight in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected. Based on their CDR3 sequences, six different PGI1-specific nanobodies (Nb clone CA17791 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 46, followed by CA17792-SEQ ID NO: 47, CA17793-SEQ ID NO: 48, CA17794-SEQ ID NO: 49, CA17795-SEQ ID NO: 50, and CA17796-SEQ ID NO: 51) from four different sequence families were selected. The encoding plasmids were transformed into the E. coli WK6 expression strain, and each nanobody of interest was expressed and purified. The specificity of the PGI1-specific nanobodies was confirmed by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. The beads functionalized with these PGI1-specific nanobodies were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of EBY100 lysate expressing native PGI1 (untagged) or lysate of an artificial yeast strain expressing PGI1 as a GFP-tagged protein (GFP(+)12,H11). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (Figure 14A). The separated proteins were further transferred to a PVDF membrane and the Western blot was developed with a GFP-specific antibody to confirm the presence of GFP-tagged PGI1 (Figure 14B). For each PGI1-specific nanobody thus analyzed, when co-immunoprecipitated with EBY100 lysate, a major band was observed at 61 kDa, which corresponds to the expected molecular weight of PGI1. Furthermore, when incubated with lysates from a yeast strain expressing PGI1 as a GFP-tagged protein, a major band was observed at 88 kDa, which corresponds to the molecular weight of GFP-PGI1 (27 kDa + 61 kDa = 88 kDa). Western blot analysis with an anti-GFP antibody confirmed that the 88 kDa band contained the GFP tag.

[0113] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method uses target-specific trapper / stripper pairs and native targets that are endogenously expressed and captured directly from crude cell lysates (untagged), allowing for the facile selection of target-specific antibodies from proteome-wide antibody libraries without additional purification steps.

[0114] In addition, we confirmed that capturing PGI1 from yeast lysate followed by elution with a stripper not only captured PGI1 from the yeast lysate, but also co-eluted a number of interacting proteins that could be identified as binders of PGI1 captured in this example from its cellular context. In particular, the PGI1-specific nanobody CA17455 (SEQ ID NO: 15) was immobilized as a trapper on magnetic beads as described above. These beads coated with CA17455 were incubated on a rotator at 4°C for 1 hour in the presence of EBY100 lysate containing endogenous PGI1 target proteins and washed. We then incubated these coated beads with the same PGI1-specific nanobody (used as a stripper in this case) for 1 h and eluted the target protein (PGI1), which showed several bands on SDS-PAGE (Figure 10) and was confirmed by mass spectrometry to contain several PGI1-interacting proteins (LYS20 UniProt P48570, TDH3 UniProt P00359, PNC1 UniProt P53184) (Figure 10). This result confirms that our method can provide the target protein in a physiological context including potential interaction partners for the selection of novel binders from the library.

[0115] [Example 7] NANEX for selecting novel nanobodies specific to membrane proteins as targets from an antibody library using rVGLUT1-specific trapper / stripper pairs and rVGLUT1 derived from cell lysates.

[0116] In Examples 1-6, a trapper / stripper pair was used to select binders for a soluble protein of interest. In this example, the method of the present application was used to select from a phage-displayed nanobody repertoire of an immune library generated against a membrane protein, specifically rat vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (rVGLUT1, UniProt entry name Q62634). In this example, the rVGLUT1-specific nanobody CA17875 (SEQ ID NO: 52) was immobilized on magnetic beads as described above and used as a trapper for the membrane protein rVGLUT1. This immobilized antigen was then incubated with a nanobody display library derived from an immunized animal. In particular, in the present invention, the same nanobody was used as a trapper and then as a stripper to selectively elute the immobilized rVGLUT1 in association with a target-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The phage selectively recovered by this rVGLUT1-specific stripper was then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched in nanobodies specific to rVGLUT1.

[0117] Generation of rVGLUT1 antibody library. Rat VGLUT1 was purified and llama immunization was performed as described in Schenck et al., 2017. After immunization, a phage display library was generated as described (Materials and Methods).

[0118] Creation of novel rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies. Full-length rat VGLUT1 was produced in HEK293T cells as previously described (Schenck et al., 2017) and cells were lysed in 5 mL of ice-cold lysis buffer (250 mM NaCl, 25 mM HEPES pH 7.5, 10% glycerol, 2% DDM) supplemented with protease inhibitors by incubation for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator. The lysate was clarified by centrifugation at 20,000 g for 20 min. The target-containing supernatant was collected and incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of 5 μL of magnetic beads covalently functionalized with the rVGLUT1-specific nanobody CA17875 (SEQ ID NO: 52), and rVGLUT1 was immobilized on these beads. The beads were collected using a magnet and washed with washing buffer (150 mM NaCl, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.5, 10% glycerol and 0.03% DDM), after which phages displaying the rVGLUT1 nanobody library (phage number 1.4 × 10 14 ) for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were then washed 9 times with 0.5 mL of wash buffer. In particular, in the present invention, the same rVGLUT1 specific nanobody (in this case in the role of a stripper) was then used to selectively elute the immobilized rVGLUT1 in association with the rVGLUT1 specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. The eluted phage was used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000 g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as a glycerol stock for later use. Lysis buffer (without target protein) was used as a (negative) control.

[0119] After two rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). A representative member of one sequence family of interest was selected, its encoding plasmid was transformed into an E. coli WK6 expression strain, and this member (Nb clone CA18425 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 53) was expressed and purified. The specificity of the rVGLUT1-specific nanobody was verified by binding to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. Beads functionalized with this VGLUT1-specific nanobody were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of lysates from HEK293T cells transfected with C-terminally Venus-YFP-tagged and c-Myc-tagged rVGLUT1 (Schenck et al., 2017). After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and loaded on SDS-PAGE. Separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a c-Myc-specific antibody to confirm the presence of c-Myc-tagged rVGLUT1 (88 kDa for the rVGLUT1-c-Myc-YFP construct, Figure 15).

[0120] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method is capable of selecting target-specific antibodies from an antibody library using specific trapper / stripper pairs and membrane target proteins.

[0121] [Example 8] NANEX for selection of novel rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies from a synaptic proteome antibody library using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair and a target protein tagged with YFP.

[0122] The GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair introduced in Example 1 can also be used to capture targets tagged with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP). Since the mutations introduced into GFP to generate the YFP protein do not alter the epitopes important for trapper / stripper binding, this GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair can be used to efficiently purify YFP-tagged proteins from complex mixtures (e.g., cell lysates) and selectively elute YFP-tagged proteins of interest from matrices (beads, plates, etc.). In this example, a llama was immunized with a mouse brain extract enriched for synaptic vesicles containing membrane proteins, particularly vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1), to display the nanobody repertoire of an immune library generated against the synaptic proteome with phage. In parallel, rat VGLUT1 tagged with Venus-YFP at the C-terminus was immobilized using the GFP-specific trapper CA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2) covalently bound to a solid support. This immobilized antigen (rVGLUT1-YFP) was then incubated with a nanobody display library derived from immunized animals. As with NANEX, and in particular in the present invention, the GFP-specific stripper CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1) was then used to compete with Trapper to selectively elute the immobilized rVGLUT1-YFP in association with the target-specific nanobodies displayed on the phage surface.

[0123] Generation of synaptic proteomic antibody libraries. Synaptic vesicle-enriched mouse brain extracts were prepared as previously described (Takamori et al., 2006). Llamas were immunized once a week for 6 weeks, and a phage display library was generated as described (Materials and Methods).

[0124] Creation of novel VGLUT1-specific nanobodies. Full-length rat VGLUT1 was produced in HEK293T cells as a C-terminally Venus-YFP tagged protein as previously described (Schenck et al., 2017). Cells were lysed in 5 mL of ice-cold lysis buffer (250 mM NaCl, 25 mM HEPES pH 7.5, 10% glycerol, 2% DDM) supplemented with protease inhibitors by incubation for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator. Lysates were clarified by centrifugation at 20,000 g for 20 min. The target-containing supernatant was collected and incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of 5 μL of magnetic beads covalently functionalized with the GFP-specific nanobody trapper CA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2), and YFP-tagged rVGLUT1 was immobilized on these beads. The beads were collected using a magnet and washed with a washing buffer (150 mM NaCl, 20 mM Hepes pH 7.5, 10% glycerol and 0.03% DDM), after which phages displaying the synaptic proteome nanobody library (phage number 1.4 × 10 14) for 1 hour at 4°C. The beads were then washed 9 times with 0.5 mL of wash buffer. In this particular example, the GFP-specific stripper nanobody CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1) was then used to selectively elute the immobilized rVGLUT1-YFP in association with the rVGLUT1-specific nanobody displayed on the phage surface. Even if mouse brain extracts were used, cross-reactive binders are expected to be present in the mouse-derived library, since VGLUT1 from mouse and rat differ in their sequences by only one amino acid. The eluted phages were used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells and incubated at 37°C for 30 minutes without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000 g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at −80°C as glycerol stocks for future use. Lysis buffer (containing no target protein) was spiked with 6 μg of wild-type GFP to serve as a (negative) control.

[0125] After two rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected, and the encoding plasmids were transformed into E. coli WK6 expression strain to express and purify five nanobodies of interest (Nb clone CA18024 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 54, followed by CA18437-SEQ ID NO: 55, CA18438-SEQ ID NO: 56, CA18439-SEQ ID NO: 57, CA18440-SEQ ID NO: 58, and CA18441-SEQ ID NO: 59). The specificity of the rVGLUT1-specific nanobodies was verified by binding the individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. These rVGLUT1-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4°C on a rotator in the presence of lysates from HEK293T cells transfected with rVGLUT1-YFP that was also c-Myc tagged. After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and loaded on SDS-PAGE. The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a c-Myc specific antibody to confirm the presence of c-Myc tagged rVGLUT1-YFP (88 kDa, FIG. 16).

[0126] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method is capable of selecting a panel of novel antibodies specific for membrane protein targets from a proteome-wide antibody library using specific GFP-Trapper / Stripper pairs and YFP-tagged membrane proteins as targets.

[0127] [Example 9] NANEX for selecting novel target-specific nanobodies from an antibody library using an mCherry-specific trapper / stripper pair and a target protein tagged with mCherry.

[0128] Examples 1-5 and 8 used a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair to capture GFP, a GFP-tagged protein of interest, or a GFP variant such as YFP for selection by NANEX. Example 9 used a trapper / stripper pair specific for the mCherry tag (Shaner et al., 2004) to capture a soluble protein of interest from a complex mixture and selectively elute the protein of interest from a matrix (beads, plates, etc.). In this example, full-length human glucocorticoid receptor (GR) tagged and crosslinked with GFP was NANEX-purified and phage-displayed with a nanobody repertoire from an immune library generated by immunizing a llama. In parallel, full-length GR tagged with mCherry was immobilized using the mCherry-specific trapper Nb clone CA16964 (SEQ ID NO: 60) covalently linked to a solid support. This immobilized antigen (mCherry-GR) was then incubated with a nanobody display library derived from the immunized animal. Similar to NANEX, the immobilized mCherry-GR was selectively eluted in association with the phage surface-displayed GR-specific nanobodies using the mCherry-specific stripper Nb clone CA17302 (SEQ ID NO: 61), which competes with the Trapper Nb. The phages selectively eluted with the mCherry-specific stripper were then amplified to generate a new repertoire enriched for GR-specific nanobodies, and this cycle was repeated until GR-specific nanobodies dominated the population and could be characterized as monoclonal GR binders.

[0129] Generation of full-length GR antibody library. A construct encoding the human glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) tagged with GFP was used to express recombinant GFP-GR in HEK293T cells after transient transfection. 48 hours after transfection, cells were harvested and lysed using a Dounce homogenizer in 10 mM Hepes pH 7.4, 10% glycerol, 20 mM NaMolybdate, 50 μg / mL DNase I, 10 μM ZnCl2, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 2.5 mM DTT, 0.5% NP40 replacement supplemented with one Complete EDTA-free protease inhibitor tablet. GFP-GR was purified to homogeneity as a soluble protein by using NANEX purification utilizing the GFP-specific trapper CA15816 (SEQ ID NO:2) and stripper CA12760 (SEQ ID NO:1) pair. GFP-GR eluate was used to immunize llamas once a week for 6 weeks, after which a phage display library was generated as described (Materials and Methods).

[0130] Creation of novel GR-specific nanobodies. The full-length gene encoding the human glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) was introduced into a pcDNA3.1 expression vector to generate fusions of the target tagged with mCherry. The vector was transfected into HEK293T cells using polyethylenimine (PEI) as the transfection agent. 48 hours after transfection, 50 million cells were harvested, washed with ice-cold PBS buffer and lysed using a Dounce homogenizer in 5 mL of lysis buffer (10 mM Hepes pH 7.4, 10% glycerol, 20 mM NaMolybdate, 10 μM ZnCl, 2.5 mM MgCl, 2.5 mM DTT, 0.5% NP40 substitute) supplemented with 50 μg / mL DNAse I and protease inhibitors. The lysate was clarified by centrifugation at 20,000 g. The supernatant containing mCherry-tagged GR was collected and incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of 5 μL of magnetic beads covalently functionalized with an mCherry-specific trapper with the identifier CA16964 (SEQ ID NO: 60). The mCherry-tagged GR was immobilized on the beads. The beads were collected using a KingFisher™ Flex purification system (ThermoScientific) and washed with 0.5 mL of wash buffer (10 mM Hepes pH 7.4, 10% glycerol, 20 mM NaMolybdate, 10 μM ZnCl, 2.5 mM DTT, 0.05% Tween 20) and purified with phage (1.4 × 10 phage number) displaying the GFP-tagged full-length GR nanobody library. 14) for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were then washed 9 times with 0.5 mL of wash buffer. In particular, in the present invention, the mCherry-specific stripper nanobody CA17302 (SEQ ID NO: 61) was then used to selectively elute the immobilized mCherry-GR in association with the phage-surface-displayed GR-specific nanobody. The mCherry-GR target protein eluate containing the associated phages was used to infect exponentially growing E. coli TG1 cells, which were incubated at 37°C for 30 min without shaking. LB medium (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 2% wt / vol glucose) was then added and the culture was grown overnight at 37°C. The next day, the culture was centrifuged at 3000 g and the cell pellet was resuspended in LB (supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin and 20% (vol / vol) glycerol) and stored at -80°C as a glycerol stock for later use. Non-transfected (containing no mCherry-tagged protein) HEK293T lysates were spiked with 10 μg wild-type mCherry (mCherry, E. coli recombinant protein TP790040, OriGene) and used as a (negative) control.

[0131] After three rounds of selection by panning using NANEX technology, individual clones were isolated from the enriched sublibrary by plating 10-fold serial dilutions of phage-infected and overnight-grown TG1 cells in LB. 96 individual clones were picked and grown in 96-well plates in LB supplemented with 100 μg / mL ampicillin. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified, sequenced, and grouped into sequence families (Materials and Methods). Representative members of each sequence family were selected and the encoding plasmids were transformed into E. coli WK6 expression strain to express and purify seven nanobodies of interest (Nb clone CA18498 corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 62, followed by CA18499-SEQ ID NO: 63, CA18501-SEQ ID NO: 64, CA18502-SEQ ID NO: 65, CA18503-SEQ ID NO: 66, CA18585-SEQ ID NO: 67, CA18586-SEQ ID NO: 68). The specificity of the GR-specific nanobodies was verified by binding individual nanobodies to NHS-agarose beads for co-immunoprecipitation assays. These GR-specific nanobody-functionalized beads were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotator in the presence of lysates from HEK293T cells transfected with mCherry-GR expression vector. After washing, the beads were resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading dye and loaded on SDS-PAGE. The separated proteins were transferred to a PVDF membrane and a Western blot was developed with a GR-specific antibody (GR (G-5) Mouse IgG2b mAb, sc-393232, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) to confirm the presence of mCherry-tagged GR (Figure 17).

[0132] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method can easily select target-specific antibodies from an antibody library using an mCherry-specific trapper / stripper pair and an mCherry-tagged target protein.

[0133] [Example 10] NANEX for the selection of novel GFP-specific nanobodies from an antibody library using a GFP-specific trapper / stripper pair and GFP protein as a target in a plate format.

[0134] In Examples 1-9, NANEX selection is performed using magnetic beads (Dynabeads® MyOne™ tosyl-activated, ThermoFisher) covalently coated with Trapper nanobodies. To demonstrate the broad applicability of the NANEX selection method described herein to different types of matrices, this example shows that the Trapper / Stripper pair can also be used to immobilize a specific target on the surface of a plastic plate by non-covalent interactions and elute this target in association with the antigen-specific binding domains of antibodies and the genotypes that encode them.

[0135] Generation of a GFP antibody library. The same library described in Example 1 was used to perform the experiments described in Example 10.

[0136] Creation of novel GFP-specific nanobodies. To create novel GFP-specific nanobodies in plate format compared to magnetic beads, a biotinylated GFP-specific trapper with identifier CA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2) was immobilized on a flat-bottom 96-well plate (Nunc Immunoplate F96 MaxiSorp, 439454, ThermoFisher) coated with neutravidin. These trapper-coated wells were blocked with PBS containing 4% milk and washed 5 times with PBS before adding 100 μL of 100 nM GFP (SEQ ID NO: 25). Trapper-coated wells that were not incubated in the presence of GFP were used as negative controls. Upon incubation in the presence of GFP (antigen), all wells were routinely washed 5 times with PBS and incubated with the phage-surface-displayed GFP antibody library. After an incubation period of 1 h 30 min at room temperature, the plates were routinely washed with 0.05% Tween 100 μL. 20The wells were washed 15 times with PBS containing 100 mM NaCl. To select for new GFP-specific antibodies, the non-covalent interaction of Trapper with GFP was selectively disrupted by adding the high affinity stripper CA12760 (SEQ ID NO: 1), which competitively binds to an epitope overlapping with the Trapper epitope. For this, the wells were incubated for 30 min with the high affinity CA12760 (GFP-specific stripper), which binds to the same epitope on GFP as Trapper.

[0137] In the second round of selection using NANEX, the same strategy was followed using the output phages from the first round. Four different nanobody families were identified based on their CDR3 sequences, of which the three largest families were identical to the three families created in Example 1 and confirmed to bind GFP by Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) (CA17518-SEQ ID NO: 27, CA17520-SEQ ID NO: 29, CA17674-SEQ ID NO: 31).

[0138] From this example, we conclude that the NANEX selection method allows for easy selection of target-specific antibodies from antibody libraries using different types of matrices coated with target-specific Trapper Nanobodies.

[0139] Materials and Methods cell. EBY100(ATCC(R)MYA-4941(TM)). Genotype: MATa AGA1::GAL1AGA1::URA3 ura352 trp1 leu2delta200 his3delta200 pep4::HIS3 prbd1.6R can1 GAL. Yeast GFP fusion collection, ThermoFisher, catalog number: 95702 (Huh et al., 2003). E. coli TG1 (electrocompetent cells; Lucigen, catalog number 60502-1) for cloning and phage library construction. E. coli WK6 nonsuppressor strain (su-) for nanobody expression (Zell et al., 1987). HEK293T (ATCC(R)293T CRL-3216(TM)).

[0140] Monoclonal antibodies for Western blotting. Anti-GFP: Mouse mAb (GF28R), MA5-15256, ThermoFisher Scientific. Anti-GR: (G-5) Mouse IgG2b mAb, sc-393232, Santa Cruz Biotechnology. Anti-c-Myc: mouse mAb (clone 9E10), 11667203001, Roche.

[0141] Nanobody-coated magnetic beads for panning. NANEX selection was performed using magnetic beads (Dynabeads® MyOne™ tosyl-activated, ThermoFisher) coated with a trapper nanobody (CA15816) specific for GFP. Following the manufacturer's protocol, 50 mg of magnetic beads were coated with 2 mg of purified CA15816 (approximately 40 μg of antibody per mg of beads) and then resuspended in 1 mL of PBS.

[0142] Yeast lysates for selection by NANEX. Each selected yeast clone was grown in 200 mL YPB medium (shaking at 175 rpm) for 72 h at 30°C. Cells were harvested by centrifugation at 4000 rpm for 5 min. Cell pellets were weighted to normalize all individual lysates. Cell lysates were prepared using the yeast lysis reagent Yper (Y-PER™ Plus, Yeast Protein Extraction Reagent, ThermoFisher) and 1 g cell pellet was resuspended in 2.5 mL Yper (supplemented with 1 mM DTT and EDTA-free protease inhibitors) and incubated at 37°C for 1 h. Cell lysates were centrifuged at 20,000 g for 10 min and the soluble fraction was aliquoted and stored at -80°C.

[0143] Negative control. Yeast EBY100 was grown in 200 mL YPB medium (shaking at 175 rpm) at 30°C for 72 h. Cells were harvested by centrifugation at 4000 rpm for 5 min. Cell lysates were prepared using the yeast lysis reagent Yper (Y-PER™ Plus, Yeast Protein Extraction Reagent, ThermoFisher) and 1 g of cell pellet was resuspended in 2.5 mL Yper (supplemented with 1 mM DTT and EDTA-free protease inhibitors) and incubated at 37°C for 1 h. Cell lysates were centrifuged at 20,000g for 10 min and the soluble fraction was aliquoted and stored at -80°C.

[0144] Generation of antibody libraries. Llamas were immunized with an antigen, protein, or proteome of interest. After immunization, blood samples were collected and a diverse set of affinity matured nanobodies with specificity for the target or protein of interest were cloned. Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were isolated from non-clotted blood for purification of total RNA and synthesis of cDNA. Using this cDNA as a template, open reading frames encoding the variable domains (Nb) of heavy chain antibodies were amplified, Nb fragments were cloned into appropriate phage display vectors, and phage particles were generated according to Pardon et al., 2014.

[0145] GFP-nanobody selection procedure. Panning or selection of novel GFP nanobodies was performed largely as described (Pardon et al., 2014), with modifications to the capture and elution steps. In summary, GFP trapper-coated beads were used and incubated with various concentrations of GFP from 0.1 nM to 100 nM in a total volume of 100 μL, after which GFP was trapped on these NANEX beads, and all magnetic beads were routinely washed three times. These beads were then incubated in a 96-well plate in the presence of a phage-displayed GFP antibody library. After 2 h of incubation at 4 °C, the beads were routinely washed 12 times with PBS-Tween. To elute GFP-specific phages, beads were incubated for 30 min with 20 μM of high affinity CA12760 (GFP-stripper), which binds to the same epitope on GFP as the trapper, in a total volume of 100 μL, or phages were aspecifically eluted from the beads with trypsin (250 μg / mL) for 30 min.

[0146] Parallel selection procedure using KingFisher™ Flex purification system (ThermoScientific). For panning experiments, 300 μL of CA15816-coated magnetic beads were resuspended in 2200 μL of PBS / 4% skim milk and blocked overnight at 4° C. on a rotator. Before panning, the beads were washed twice with PBS using a magnet. Afterwards, the beads were resuspended in 480 μL of PBS.

[0147] Twelve different yeast lysates were thawed and 400 μL of each lysate was added to wells of a 96-well deep plate. As a negative control for each panning, 400 μL of lysate from EBY100 strain was spiked with 20 μg of purified GFP. 20 μL of pre-blocked magnetic beads coated with CA15816 were added to each well. The beads and lysates were incubated on a shaking platform at 4° C. for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

[0148] The next step of selection was performed in a 96-well plate with the KingFisher™ Flex purification system. Magnetic beads were collected from each well and washed with 500 μL PBS-Tween for 30 seconds. These beads were then incubated with the phage-displayed proteome-wide antibody library for 1 h 30 min, followed by 9 washes with 500 μL PBS-Tween for 30 seconds each. To elute phage specific for GFP-tagged antigens, the beads were incubated for 30 min with 20 μM high affinity CA12760 (GFP-Stripper), which binds to the same epitope on GFP as the Trapper, in a total volume of 100 μL.

[0149] Identification of selected nanobody binders. Plasmids containing the nanobody-encoding genes were purified and then sequenced using MP57 as a sequencing primer. Nanobodies with similar CDR3 sequences (same length and >80% sequence identity) were grouped into sequence families (Pardon et al., 2014). It is well known that nanobodies from the same sequence family originate from the same B-cell lineage and bind to the same epitope on the target.

[0150] Nanobody-coated agarose beads for antigen co-immunoprecipitation. Antigen-specific nanobody beads were generated using NHS-Activated Sepharose 4 Fast Flow (Cytiva) and purified nanobodies. Coupling to beads was performed according to the manufacturer's protocol. 0.5 mg of purified nanobody was coupled to 150 μL of beads and then resuspended in 0.5 mL of PBS.

[0151] Biotinylation. GFP (SEQ ID NO: 25) and the GFP-specific NbCA15816 (SEQ ID NO: 2) were biotinylated for BLI or NANEX selection, respectively, using the Thermo Scientific EZ-Link Sulfo-NHS-LC-Biotinylation Kit according to the manufacturer's instructions.

[0152] Epitope mapping of GFP nanobodies by Biolayer Interferometry (BLI). Biotinylated GFP (100 nM) was captured using streptavidin-coated Octet® biosensors. Unbound biotinylated GFP was washed off the biosensor by two washing steps (60 s with buffer). Streptavidin-coated Octet® biosensors with bound GFP were then first incubated for 400 s with 20 nM CA12760, a GFP stripper, washed briefly and then incubated for 400 s in a premix of 20 nM CA12760 and the various tested Nbs. Data were analyzed with OctetRed. All assays were performed in 0.1% BSA and 0.005% Tween 100 mM NaCl. 20 The reaction was carried out at room temperature in 25 mM HEPES pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl supplemented with 1,2-dichlorophenyl ether.

[0153] Sequence Listing The amino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 1 to 68 (excluding SEQ ID NO: 25) represent binders designated in the present application, and were used in the examples where a 6xHis tag (also referred to as a His tag in the present application) and an EPEA tag were added to the C-terminus as noted below. Other embodiments include the use of the amino acid binding molecules without tags (e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 70 and 71, which correspond to the VHH sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 1 and 2, respectively), or the amino acid binding molecules to which alternative tags have been added to the remaining portions of the amino acid sequences at the N-terminus or C-terminus instead of or in addition to the 6xHis and EPEA tags. >SEQ ID NO: 1: CA12760 GFP-Stripper amino acid sequence (with C-terminal 6xHis+EPEA tag added) SEQ ID NO:2: CA15816 T54A / V55A mutant GFP-Trapper amino acid sequence (mutated residues in bold and underlined; C-terminal 6xHis+EPEA)

[0154] [ka] >SEQ ID NO: 3: CA17440 FBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 4: CA17441 FBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 5: CA17442 FBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 6: CA17443 FBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 7: CA17451 PDC1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 8: CA17452 PDC1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 9: CA17444 SIS1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 10: CA17453 ALD6 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 11: CA17454 ALD6 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 12: CA17460 ALD6 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 13: CA17458 BMH1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 14: CA17459 BMH1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 15: CA17455 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 16: CA17456 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 17: CA17457 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 18: CA17530 SXM1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 19: CA17560 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 20: CA17561 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 21: CA17562 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 22: CA17563 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 23: CA17564 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 24: CA17565 SSA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 25: GFP protein >SEQ ID NO: 26: CA17517 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 27: CA17518 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 28: CA17519 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 29: CA17520 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 30: CA17673 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 31: CA17674 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 32: CA17675 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 33: CA17676 GFP binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 34: CA8780 unrelated binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 35: CA17797 GR-LBD binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 36: CA17798 GR-LBD binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 37: CA17799 GR-LBD binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 38: CA17800 GR-LBD binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 39: CA17801 GR-LBD binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 40: CA18504 HSP104 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 41: CA18505 MET6 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 42: CA18508 SBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 43: CA18509 SBA1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 44: CA18510 SOD1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 45: CA17938 ENO1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 46: CA17791 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 47: CA17792 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 48: CA17793 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 49: CA17794 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 50: CA17795 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 51: CA17796 PGI1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 52: CA17875 VGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 53: CA18425 VGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 54: CA18024 VGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 55: CA18437 rVGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 56: CA18438 rVGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 57: CA18439 rVGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 58: CA18440 rVGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 59: CA18441 rVGLUT1 binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 60: CA16964 mCherry-Trapper binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 61: CA17302 mCherry-Stripper binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 62: CA18498 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 63: CA18499 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 64: CA18501 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 65: CA18502 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 66: CA18503 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 67: CA18585 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 68: CA18586 GR binder amino acid sequence (with His tag and EPEA tag) >SEQ ID NO: 69: 6xHis-EPEA tag >SEQ ID NO: 70: CA12760 GFP-Stripper VHH amino acid sequence >SEQ ID NO: 71: CA15816 GFP-Trapper VHH amino acid sequence

[0155] [Table 5]

Claims

1. 1. A method for selecting a polypeptide binder comprising the steps of: a) mixing a first protein binding agent immobilized on a surface, which specifically binds to a target protein, with a sample containing the target protein to obtain a complex on the surface; b) adding to said complex of step a) a sample comprising a plurality of polypeptide binders; c) adding to the mixture of step b) a sample containing a second protein binding agent that competes with the first binding agent for binding to the target protein and displaces the first binding agent from the target protein by specifically binding to the target protein; d) eluting the second protein binding agent bound to the target protein and isolating the polypeptide binder bound to the target protein; The method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dissociation rate constant (koff value) of the second protein binding agent is equal to or lower than the koff value of the first binding agent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second and / or first protein binding agent comprises an antigen-binding domain.

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the antigen binding domain comprises an immunoglobulin single variable domain (ISVD), a VHH, a nanobody, or an antigen binding chimeric protein defined as an ISVD fused to a scaffold protein via at least two sites, preferably wherein the scaffold protein domain comprises HopQ, YgjK, or a derivative thereof.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sample comprising a plurality of polypeptide binders in step b) comprises a display library of binding agents.

6. 5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said plurality of polypeptide binders is a recombinant library of binding agents, and / or an immune library, or a (semi-)synthetic, non-immune or naive library, said binding agents comprising antibodies, single domain antibodies, ISVDs, VHHs or nanobodies.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method is carried out using phage display, yeast display, ribosome display, bacterial display or mammalian display techniques and / or wherein steps a) to d) of the method are repeated at least once, preferably two or more times after step d) so as to increase the number of polypeptide binders eluted in step d.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the surface comprises a (magnetic) bead, a resin, a column, a plate or a chip.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sample comprising the target protein in a) comprises a complex mixture such as a biological sample, a cell lysate or a proteomic sample.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample containing the target protein in a) comprises a complex mixture that is applied as an immunogen to obtain the multiple polypeptide binders.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first and / or second protein binding agent specifically binds to a heterologous tag present on the target protein.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first protein binding agent and / or the second protein binding agent specifically bind to a heterologous tag on the target protein, the tag being GFP or YFP, and / or the first protein binding agent comprises a CDR of SEQ ID NO: 71 and the second protein binding agent comprises a CDR of SEQ ID NO:

70.

13. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the target protein captured on the surface is a protein complex comprising at least one additional protein, and / or the polypeptide binder is associated with the complex by binding to at least one of the proteins contained in the protein complex.

14. Steps a) and b) are further processed as follows: a. mixing a sample containing a plurality of polypeptide binders, preferably a display library, with a target protein sample; b. Adding a first protein-binding agent, which is preferably immobilized on a surface or will be subsequently immobilized, to the mixture of a) to obtain a surface-immobilized complex. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein 15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the polypeptide binder is selected from a recombinant antibody library.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the polypeptide binder is selected for target protein epitope binning or for identifying novel epitopes on the target protein.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the polypeptide binder is selected for high-throughput selection of specific binders.

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