High-Resolution Epitope Mapping and Affinity Binding Analysis Comparing a New Anti-Human LAG3 Rabbit Antibody Clone to the Commonly Used Mouse 17B4 Clone

Lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG3) is a T cell inhibitory receptor that promotes tumor cell immune escape and is a potential target for cancer diagnostic and immunotherapeutic applications. We used automated capillary electrophoresis (ACE), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to compare the binding characteristics of a new anti-LAG3 rabbit antibody clone, SP464, with the thirty-year old and extensively used anti-LAG3 mouse 17B4 clone. The rabbit SP464 clone exhibited between 20× to 30× greater binding to LAG3 than did the mouse 17B4 clone. Using these tools, we precisely mapped the relative locations of the epitopes of these two antibodies. The SP464 and 17B4 minimal epitopes were localized to separate, but overlapping, sub-fragments within the amino-terminal fifteen acids of the original thirty-mer peptide immunogen used to generate both antibodies. Application of this approach for quantifying the effects of alanine substitutions along the minimal SP464 epitope identified two amino acids essential for binding and four amino acids that likely contribute towards binding. Together, ACE, SPR, and IHC constitute a powerful orthologous approach for comparing antibody-binding characteristics and for fine mapping of linear epitopes within short immunogens. Our results indicate that the rabbit clone SP464 may be useful for assessing LAG3 expression.