Fibroblast growth factor inducible (Fn14)-specific antibodies concomitantly display signaling pathway-specific agonistic and antagonistic activity.

Background: Fn14 is a therapeutic target in various diseases.
Results: Anti-Fn14 antibodies activate the alternative NFκB pathway but not other Fn14-related activities induced by soluble or membrane-bound TWEAK. FcγR-bound anti-Fn14 antibodies, however, activate the full spectrum of Fn14-associated activities.
Conclusion: Anti-Fn14 antibodies elicit agonistic activities differing from those of the natural Fn14 ligand TWEAK.
Significance: These findings influence the rationale of designing Fn14-targeted therapies. The Fn14-specific monoclonal antibodies PDL192 and P4A8, which are under consideration in clinical trials, showed no agonistic activity with respect to IL8 production and cell death induction. However, oligomerization with protein G or binding to Fcγ receptors converted both anti-Fn14 antibodies into potent agonists. TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK), the ligand of Fn14, occurs naturally in two forms with partly different signaling capabilities, as a membrane-bound ligand and as a soluble trimeric molecule. Although membrane TWEAK strongly triggers all Fn14-associated pathways, soluble TWEAK predominately triggers the alternative nuclear factor κB (NFκB) pathway and enhances TNF-induced cell death but has only a poor effect on the classical NFκB pathway and chemokine production. Thus, the oligomerized and FcγR-bound anti-Fn14 mAbs mimicked the activity of membrane TWEAK. Notably, both anti-Fn14 antibodies significantly triggered p100 processing, the hallmark of the alternative NFκB pathway, and therefore resembled soluble TWEAK. In contrast to the latter, however, the anti-Fn14s showed no effect on TNF receptor 1-induced cell death and P4A8 even blocked the corresponding TWEAK response. Thus, we showed that Fn14 antibodies display an alternative NFκB pathway-specific agonistic activity but fail to phenocopy other activities of soluble TWEAK, whereas oligomerized or FcγR-bound Fn14 antibodies fully mimic the activity of membrane TWEAK. In view of the trivalent nature of the TWEAK-Fn14 interaction, this suggests that the alternative NFκB pathway is uniquely responsive already to Fn14 dimerization enabling antibodies to elicit an unnatural response pattern distinct from that of the naturally occurring Fn14 ligands.