Lysostaphin lysibody leads to effective opsonization and killing of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a murine model [PublishAheadOfPrint]

The cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria contains abundant surface-exposed carbohydrate structures that are highly conserved. While these properties make surface carbohydrates ideal targets for immunotherapy, carbohydrates elicit a poor immune response resulting primarily in low-affinity IgM antibodies. In a previous publication we introduced the lysibody approach to address this shortcoming. Lysibodies are engineered molecules that combine a high-affinity carbohydrate-binding domain from bacterial or bacteriophage origin and an Fc effector portion of a human IgG antibody, thus directing effective immunity to conserved bacterial surface carbohydrates. Here, we describe the first example of a lysibody containing the binding domain from a bacteriocin – lysostaphin. We also describe the creation of five lysibodies with binding domains derived from phage lysins, directed against Staphylococcus aureus. The lysostaphin and LysK lysibodies showed the most promise and were further characterized. Both lysibodies bound a range of clinically important staphylococcal strains, fixed complement on the staphylococcal surface, and induced phagocytosis of S. aureus by macrophages and human neutrophils. The lysostaphin lysibody had superior in vitro activity compared to the LysK lysibody as well as the previously characterized ClyS lysibody, and effectively protected mice in a kidney abscess/bacteremia model. These results further demonstrate that the lysibody approach is a reproducible means of creating anti-bacterial antibodies that cannot be produced by conventional means. Lysibodies therefore are a promising solution for opsonic antibodies that may be used passively to both treat and prevent infection by drug-resistant pathogens.

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