Abeta targets of the biosimilar antibodies of Bapineuzumab, Crenezumab, Solanezumab in comparison to an antibody against N-truncated Abeta in sporadic Alzheimer disease cases and mouse models

Solanezumab and Crenezumab are two humanized antibodies targeting Amyloid-beta (A beta) which are currently tested in multiple clinical trials for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is a scientific discussion ongoing about the target engagement of these antibodies. Here, we report the immunohistochemical staining profiles of biosimilar antibodies of Solanezumab, Crenezumab and Bapineuzumab in human formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue and human fresh frozen tissue. Furthermore, we performed a direct comparative immunohistochemistry analysis of the biosimilar versions of the humanized antibodies in different mouse models including 5XFAD, Tg4-42, TBA42, APP/PS1KI, 3xTg. The staining pattern with these humanized antibodies revealed a surprisingly similar profile. All three antibodies detected plaques, cerebral amyloid angiopathy and intraneuronal A beta in a similar fashion. Remarkably, Solanezumab showed a strong binding affinity to plaques. We also reaffirmed that Bapineuzumab does not recognize N-truncated or modified A beta, while Solanezumab and Crenezumab do detect N-terminally modified A beta peptides A beta 4-42 and pyroglutamate A beta 3-42. In addition, we compared the results with the staining pattern of the mouse NT4X antibody that recognizes specifically A beta 4-42 and pyroglutamate A beta 3-42, but not full-length A beta 1-42. In contrast to the biosimilar antibodies of Solanezumab, Crenezumab and Bapineuzumab, the murine NT4X antibody shows a unique target engagement. NT4X does barely cross-react with amyloid plaques in human tissue. It does, however, detect cerebral amyloid angiopathy in human tissue. In Alzheimer mouse models, NT4X detects intraneuronal A beta and plaques comparable to the humanized antibodies. In conclusion, the biosimilar antibodies Solanezumab, Crenezumab and Bapineuzumab strongly react with amyloid plaques, which are in contrast to the NT4X antibody that hardly recognizes plaques in human tissue. Therefore, NT4X is the first of a new class of therapeutic antibodies.