Antibody Glycoengineering and Homogeneous Antibody-Drug Conjugate Preparation

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of biopharmaceuticals in which cytotoxic agents are conjugated to monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), allowing targeted drug delivery. Present heterogeneous ADCs (conjugated in random variable positions) suffered from issues of stability, reproducibility, efficacy, etc. Recent advances have led to the development of homogeneous ADC preparations by site-specific conjugation, allowing the control of the drug-to-antibody ratio. These approaches have increased the therapeutic window, efficacy, and batch-to-batch consistency of the ADC preparations. Antibodies carry a pair of heterogeneous N-glycans in the Fc regions, which are critical for antibody function. Drug conjugation through glycoengineering has been achieved with different approaches, including the use of endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (ENGases) and monosaccharyl transferase mutants. In this article, we summarize different glycoengineering approaches for antibody-drug conjugation, and discuss their advantages for the development of next-generation homogeneous ADCs.