WO2005068616A2 - Immunokinases - Google Patents

Abstract

A synthetic, soluble, endogenous complex formed from at least one component A and at least one component B, whereby component A comprises a binding domain for extra-cellular surface structures that internalize upon binding of component A of said complex, and component B has a constitutive catalytic kinase activity and effects cell biosynthesis/signalling including cell death after internalization. The complex allows to influence the growth and the physiology of cells. In particular said complex, nucleic acid molecules encoding it, cells transfected or transformed with these nucleic acid molecules are usable for the preparation of medicaments for the treatment of proliferative diseases, inflammatory diseases, allergies and autoimmune diseases.

Description

I M UNOKI ASES

The present invention relates to a synthetic, soluble, endogenous complex form ed from at least one com ponent A and at least one com ponent B, whereby com ponent A comprises a binding dom ain for extra-cellular surface structures that internalize upon binding of com ponent A of said complex, and com ponent B has a constitutive catalytic kinase activity and effects cell biosynthesis/signalling including cell death after intemalization through phosphorylation. The present invention also relates to nucleic acids and/or vectors coding for such a complex. The present invention furthermore provides a m ethod for influencing the cell growth and/or the physiology of cells to which said com plex, nucleic acids or vectors have been targeted. The invention further relates to cells, or cell lines or non-human organisms, such as plants including algae and/or m icroorganisms, including yeast and fungi, producing the complex of the present invention. The present invention also concerns a kit com prising said complex, nucleic acids, vectors and/or cells. The present invention relates to the use of said complex, nucleic acids, vectors, cells or kit for the manufacturing of a medicam ent for the treatment of proliferative diseases, allergies, autoim m une diseases and/or chronic inflam mation. The present invention further relates to the use of said complex, nucleic acids or vectors, cells and/or kit for targeted modulation of cellular signalling pathways, in order to effect the gene expression, and/or the viability of the target cell in a therapeutic manner. The invention further relates to a m edicament comprising said complex, nucleic acids, vectors, cells or organisms. Furthermore the complexes, nucleic acids, vectors, cells and kits of the present invention are usable in prognostic, diagnostic and analytic kinase assays.

Backgrou nd of the invention Medications currently available for proliferative diseases, such as chemotherapeutic agents, have the disadvantage of inducing considerable side effects due to their relative non-specificity. It has been attempted to moderate these by various therapeutic concepts. One potential approach is the use of immunotherapeutic agents to increase the specificity of medication. This approach has been especially useful for the treatment of tumors. One type of an immunotherapeutic agent are immunotoxins. An immunotoxin comprises a monoclonal antibody (moAb) or a recombinant antibody fragment with a specific affinity for surface markers of target cells, which is coupled to a cytotoxic reagent. Cytotoxic agents are selected from toxins or radioactive elements. An immunotherapeutic wherein the cytotoxic agent is a radioactive elements is called radioimmunoconjugate. Immunotoxins and radioimmuno- conjugate have been used for the treatment of malignancies. Another type of immunotherapeutic agent are anti-immunoconjugates. An anti-immunoconjugate comprises a structure relevant to pathogenesis or a fragment thereof, which is coupled to a toxin component. Anti- immunoconjugates are used for the treatment of autoimmne diseases, tissue reactions or allergies.

When radioactively labeled anti-B-cell moAb were used with B-cell lymphomas, tumor regressions and even complete remissions could be observed (1). In contrast, the results with moAb against solid tumors were rather disillusioning. The relative large size of the ITs used in these studies seemed to interfere with their ability to penetrate the tumors, and made them ineffective therapeutics. The low tumor penetration rate posed a particular challenging problem for poorly vascularized tumors. In order to obtain better tissue and tumor penetration and in general improved diffusion properties, the ITs were miniaturized. It was also speculated, that these smaller ITs would be less immunogenic because of the reduced size of the antigenic determinants (2). Therefore proteolytically cleaved antibody fragments (miniaturized) were conjugated to the above mentioned effector functions (radioactive elements or toxins). Improved cloning techniques allowed the preparation of completely recombinant ITs: Coding regions of immunoglobulin light and heavy chain variable regions, amplified by polymerase chain reaction, are joined together by a synthetic linker (e.g. (Gly₄Ser)₃) (SEQ I D NO: 7) . The resulting single chain fragment of variable region genes (scFv) is then genetically fused to a coding region of a catalytically active enzyme including cytotoxically active proteins or polypeptides (3) . The peptidic cell poisons, which have been mostly used to date and thus best, characterized are the bacterial toxins diphtheria toxin ( DT), Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) , and the plant-derived Ricin- A (4) . The mechanism of cytotoxic activity is essentially the same in all of these toxins despite of their different evolutionary backgrounds. The catalytic dom ain inhibits protein biosynthesis by direct modification of the elongation factor 2 (EF-2), which is important to translation, or by inactivation of the EF-2 binding site at the 28S- rRNA subunit of ribosomes.

I n most of the constructs employed to date, the systemic application of imm unotoxins results in more or less severe side effects. I n addition to the "vascular leak" syndrome, throm bocytopenia, hem olysis, renal insufficiency and sickness also occur, depending on the construct employed and the applied dosage (4) . Dose-dependent liver dam age was also observed (5) . I n addition to the docum ented side effects, the im m unogenicity of the constructs is one of the key problems of im m unotherapy. This applies, in particular, to the hum oral defense against the catalytic domains employed, such as Ricin (HARA), PE, or DT (2) . Theoretically, all non-human structures can provoke an im m une response. Thus, the repeated adm inistration of im m unotoxins and imm unoconjugates is limited. A logical consequence of these problems is the developm ent of human im m unotoxins. To date, hum an toxins used in im m unotoxins have in most of all cases been selected from ribonucleases (6) . Since hum an RNases are present in extracellular fluids, plasma and tissues, they are considered less im m unogenic when used in im munotoxins. Angiogenin (ANG) , a 14 kDa protein having a 64% sequence homology with RNase A, was first isolated from a tumor-cell- conditioned medium , where it was discovered due to its capability of inducing angiogenesis (7). It was shown that the t-RNA-specific RNase activity of Angiogenin has a cytotoxic potential. In accordance with that, chemically conjugated im m unotoxins subsequently exhibited a cell-specific toxic activity. To evaluate the efficacy of ANG-based im m unotoxins, different conformations of ANG with, e.g. epiderm al growth factor (EGF) or CD30 ligand, were constructed and successfully tested in vitro (8) . Another m ember of the RNase superfam ily is eosinophilic neurotoxin (EDN) . For EDN, which has a size of 18.4 kDa, only the direct neurotoxicity has been described to date. Based on the docum ented potency, different EDN-based im m unotoxins have been constructed and successfully tested in vitro (9). Very recently it was shown that proteases like granzym e B or derivatives thereof can efficiently fulfill the effector function of im m unotoxins (WO - A - 01/80880).

Protein phosphorylation is one of the most important m echanisms by which extracellular signals are transformed into biological responses in cells. Activation of protein kinases is the most com mon mode of signal transduction in biological systems. The three basic components of the phosphorylation systems are: 1 ) phosphoproteins that alter their properties by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation ; 2) protein kinases that transfer a phosphate group from donor substrates, such as ATP and GTP, to serine, threonine, tyrosine or histidine residues; and 3) protein phosphatases that dephoshorylate phosphorylated proteins, thereby restoring the particular protein phosphorylation system to its basal stage. The eukaryotic protein kinases (ePK) represent the largest superfamily of hom ologous proteins that are involved in the regulation of intracellular signaling pathways. These kinases phosphorylate am ino acid (aa) residues located in the loops or turns of their substrates. To regulate signal transduction pathways, there are approximately 2000 kinases and 500 protein phosphatases encoded within the hum an genom e (10). A large number of these kinases are encoded by oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes. The primary structures of hundreds of these enzym es are known, and all contain a conserved catalytic core of about 250- 300 aa residues. The conserved structural features of the catalytic domain have been found from yeast, lower eukaryotes to m amm als. The catalytic dom ain of a kinase dom ain is further divided into 12 sm aller subdomains, defined as regions uninterrupted by large insertions and containing characteristic, highly conserved aa residues. Subdomain I- IV, located at the am ino-term inus of the catalytic domain, is involved in anchoring and orienting the nucleotide ATP. Subdomains VI - IX form a large lobe structure at the carboxy-term inus of the catalytic domain and are involved in the binding of substrates and catalyzing the phospho-transfer reaction. The pattern of aa residues found within subdom ain VI B (HRD motif), VI I I (A/SPE motif) , and IX (DXWXXG motif (SEQ I D NO. 9) are highly conserved among different protein kinases. The eukaryotic protein kinases make up a large superfam ily of hom ologous proteins (1 1 ) . A classification schem e is founded on a catalytic domain phylogeny, which reveals fam ilies of enzym es that have related substrate specificities and modes of regulation according to the scheme of Hanks and Hunter (12). Most protein kinases contain a conserved catalytic domain belonging to the eukaryotic protein kinase (ePK) superfam ily (all other protein kinases are classified as atypical protein kinases (aPKs)) . ePK' s are classified into seven major groups, and are subdivided into fam ilies, and subfamilies, based on the sequence of their ePK domains: Atypical protein kinases (aPK) lack sequence sim ilarity to the ePK domains, but either have protein kinase activity, or a clear homology of aPKs with protein kinase activity. All aPK fam ilies are small, several having just one member in vertebrates. None have been found in invertebrates. A number of reports have shown that the kinases of this subfamily play critical roles in signaling pathways that control cell growth, differentiation and survival. Recently, several investigators have identified a number of aPKC-interacting proteins and their characterization is helping to unravel the mechanisms of action and functions of these kinases. Recently, a new fam ily of aPKs called alpha kinases that does not have any homology to the serine/threonine/tyrosine protein kinase superfam ily has been identified (13) . The alpha kinases differ from serine/threonine/tyrosine protein kinases in that that they phosphorylate a threonine aa residue located in the alpha helical region of the substrate. Free calcium is a major second messenger in all cell types. One mechanism by which calcium ions exert their effects is by binding to a 17-kDa protein, calm odulin (CaM) . The binding of four calcium ions to calmodulin changes its conformation and prom otes its interaction with a number of other proteins, including several classes of protein kinases that are activated by the calcium/CaM complex (14) . Classifying the calcium/CaM-dependent protein kinases is based on their substrate specificity. Som e of these enzym es have only one substrate, and are designed as "dedicated' calcium/CaM-dependent protein kinases, while others have broad substrate specificity and are termed "multifunctional" kinases. The dedicated calcium/CaM-dependent protein kinases comprise three enzym es. Phosphorylase kinase, myosin light chain kinase and eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase. Multifunctional calcium/CaM- dependent protein kinases com prise four enzymes referred to as CaM-kinases I , I I , IV and pro-apoptotic serine/threonine death protein kinases. One of the positive mediators of apoptosis is DAP-kinase (DAPk) (15) . DAPk is a pro-apoptotic calcium/CaM-regulated serine/threonine kinase with tumor- suppressive activity. DAPk is frequently inactivated by prom oter methylation in human cancer. Its expression is frequently lost in human carcinoma and B- and (NK)/T-cell malignancies, in som e cases in association with more aggressive stages of disease (16) . Very recently, it has been shown, that no expression of DAPk was detectable in high- m et astatic lung carcinoma cell lines, whereas the low- m et astatic counterparts were positive for DAPk. Four additional kinases that have a significant homology in their catalytic domain to DAPk were recently identified. ZI P(Dlk)-kinase and DRP- 1 , also named DAPk2, are the closest family members, as their catalytic dom ains share approximately 80% identity to that of DAPk. Two m ore distant DAPk-related proteins are DRAK1 and DRAK2. Both the pro-apoptotic and tumor- suppressive functions of DAPk depend on its kinase catalytic activity. The CaM- regulatory segment of DAPk possesses an autoinhibitory effect on the catalytic activity, and is relieved by binding to Ca2+ -activated CaM. Consistently, the deletion of this segment from DAPk-ΔCaM m utant generated a constitutively active kinase ("super-killing kinase"), which displayed CaM-independent substrate phosphorylation in vitro and prom oted apoptotic activity in vivo (17). Eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2k) belongs to the alpha kinases and is distinct from the main fam ily of protein kinases with which they share no sequence sim ilarity (18) . The activity of eukaryotic elongation factor- 2 (eEF-2) is crucial for the elongation step of m RNA translation. eEF-2 activity is regulated by phosphorylation. To be active, eEF-2 m ust be dephosphorylated, since phosphorylation at Thr-56 and 58 causes inactivation, resulting in the term ination of m RNA translation. Phosphorylation of eEF-2 at Thr-56 and 58 by the highly specific calcium/CaM-dependent eEF-2k results in eEF-2 inactivation and, therefore, may regulate the global rate of protein synthesis at the elongation stage in animal cells. eEF-2k is itself regulated both negatively and positively by phosphorylation on at least five different serine residues, probably mediated by seven or more protein kinases. Very recently, it has been shown, that a point m utation at Ser-499, eEF-2K S499D, transforms the kinase into a constitutively active form (19) .

Protein phosphorylation is implicated in cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, secretion, invasion, angiogenesis, metastasis and apoptosis. Protein kinases and phosphatases play key roles in regulating these processes. Changes in the level, subcellular location and activity of kinases and phosphatases have consequences on normal cell function and maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Dysfunction in activities of protein kinases may lead to severe pathological states. I n cancer, as well as in other proliferative diseases, deregulated cell proliferation, differentiation and survival frequently results from abnormal protein phosphorylation. The identification of the key roles of protein kinases in proliferative diseases has led to extensive efforts to develop kinase inhibitors for treatment of a wide range of cancers. Many different tyrosine and serine/threonine protein kinases have been selected as candidates for drug discovery activities in oncology/inflam matory research, based either on their overexpression and/or on dysfunction in a particular organ or tissue, or through their association in deregulated signal transduction/cell cycle pathways. To date, m ore than 30 different tyrosine kinase targets are under evaluation in drug discovery projects in oncology. Chem ical inhibitors (organic m olecules, peptide inhibitors), antisense oligonucleotides and kinase-selective antibodies have been developed which target intracellular kinases.

Nevertheless, development was slow and associated with problems, m ainly because of the associated toxicity, attributed to the poor selectivity of these compounds. Protein kinase inhibitors mainly bind at the active site of the enzyme, in com petition with ATP4- , and whether such inhibitors could ever be used for the long-term treatment of chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, is still questionable. Sim ilarly the state of the art im m unotoxins, such as chemically-linked or recombinant im m unotoxins com prising ribonucleases, are still associated with the problem of unspecific toxicity. This problem reduces the efficiency of compositions comprising said immunotoxins, and limits their usefulness as therapeutic agents. Very recently, different chim eric proteins of kinases fused to distinct ligands were developed: A) Ligand-kinase fusion proteins were constructed to influence T-cell behaviour after transfection (US-A-5,670,324) : after transformation of T-cells with a vector coding for a chimeric CD4-kinase fusion, the expressed chimeric membrane-bound molecules m ay be used to identify drugs that block T cell activation or low level self-antigens. B) Chimeric kinase-based receptors were also constructed to redirect im mune effector cells. Human imm une effector cells transform ed with a vector encoding for a membrane-bound ligand-kinase fusion proteins may be able to specifically target cells via their extracellular ligand and may initiate killing of the target cells by activity of the fused kinase acticity triggering activation of the transformed im m une effector cell (US 2002/0176851 A1 ). C) Cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) , in particular hum an Myt-1 kinase and derivatives therof were fused to the constant region of immunoglobulin molecules, which may improve pharmokinetic properties and sim plify expression and purification of Myt-1 (US 5,935,835). D) Other kinase-based fusion proteins, in particular scFv-kinase fusion proteins were constructed for the indirect identification of protein-protein interactions inside living cells after their transform ation with two different vectors (US 2002/0151684 A1 ).

None of these kinase fusions is available as a soluble protein that would allow their use as a hum an im m unotoxin. Surprisingly it was found that the above-mentioned problems can be solved by soluble, endogenous complexes comprising cell-specific antibody fragm ent(s) which is/are linked to constantly and catalytically active kinase(s) that develop cytotoxic/regulative activity upon intemalization of the complex. Surprisingly, the complexes of the present invention are superior over state of the art im m unotoxins in that they have a higher specificity combining specific binding to a target cell with specific constitutive catalytic activity inside the target cell, a reduced im m unogenicity, an im proved activity and are resistant to nonspecific inactivation, and are thus are less prone to activity reduction.

Su m m ary of th e invention

The present invention concerns a synthetic complex formed from at least one component A and at least one com ponent B, whereby component A comprises a binding domain for extra-cellular surface structures that internalize upon binding of component A of said complex , and component B has constitutivly a catalytic kinase activity, said complex is soluble and effects cell death after intemalization. The component A is selected from the group of actively binding structures consisting of antibodies or their derivatives or fragments thereof, and/or chemical molecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, peptides, vitam ins, etc. , and/or small m olecules with up to 100 atoms with receptor-binding activity such as ligands, in particular single ions, peptidic molecules, non-peptidic molecules, etc. , and/or cell surface carbohydrate binding proteins and their ligands such as lectins, in particular calnexins, c- type lectins, l-type lectins, m-type lectins, p-type lectins, r-type lectins, galectins and their derivatives, and/or receptor binding molecules such as natural ligands to the cluster of differentiation (CD) antigens, like CD30, CD40, etc., cytokines such as chemokines, colony stimulating factors, type- 1 cytokines, type-2 cytokines, interferons, interleukins, lymphokines, monokines, etc. , and/or adhesion molecules including their derivatives and m utants, and/or derivatives or combinations of any of the above listed of actively binding structures, which bind to CD antigens, cytokine receptors, hormone receptors, growth factor receptors, ion pumps, channel-forming proteins. The com ponent A m ay also be selected from the group of passively binding structures consisting of allergens, peptidic allergens, recom binant allergens, allergen-idiotypical antibodies, autoim m une-provoking structures, tissue-rejection-inducing structures, im m unoglobulin constant regions and their derivatives, m utants or combinations thereof. The com plex of the present invention is directed by its component A to a target cell com prising a binding partner for the above listed binding structures of A. I n a further embodiment the com ponent A of the complex has a higher valency by comprising two or m ore identical and/or different binding structures. The com plex of the present invention also com prises a component B which is at least one kinase selected from the following three classes of kinases: 1 . eukaryotic protein kinase (ePK) superfam ily, 2. histidine protein kinase (HPK) superfam ily or 3. atypical protein kinase (aPK) superfamily. I n a further em bodim ent the com ponent B is a hum an kinase or a non-human kinase. A further embodiment of the invention is a complex wherein the ePK is selected from the group of calcium/calmodulin-regulated (CaM) death-promoting kinases, consisting of death-associated protein kinase (DAP-kinase, DAPk), DAP kinase-related protein kinase 1 (DRP- 1 ), also named DAP-kinase 2 (DAPk2) , DAP like kinase/Zipper interacting protein kinase (Dlk/ZI P-kinase), also named DAP- kinase 3 (DAPK3) and DAP kinase related apoptosis-inducing kinase (DRAK1 and DRAK2) families, the group of Group of calcium/calmodulin-regulated (CaM) death-prom oting kinases-like (CAMKL) fam ily, consisting of at least 49 subfam ilies, protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 1 catalytic subunit (PRKAA1 ) , protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 2 catalytic subunit (PRKAA2) , BRSK1 and BRSK2, CHK1 checkpoint homologue (CHEK1 ) , hormonally upregulated Neu- associated kinase (HUNK) , serine/threonine kinase 1 1 (Peutz-Jeghers syndrome) (STK1 1 ), MAP/m icrotubule affinity-regulating kinase (MARK) 1-4, MARKps 01-30, likely ortholog of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (KIAA0175), PAS domain containing serine/threonine kinase (PASK), NIM1, QIK and SNRK, the group of death-domain receptor interacting protein kinase (RIP-kinase) family, consisting of at least six subfamilies, RIP-kinase 1, RIP- kinase 2, RIP-kinase 3 and RIP-kinase 4, ankyrin repeat domain 3 (ANKRD3) and SqK288, the group of multifunctional CaM kinase family, consisting of CaM kinases I, II, including the microtubule affinity-regulating kinases (MARK) and microtubule affinity-regulating kinases-like 1 (MARKL1), CaM kinase IV and CaM kinase kinase subfamilies, the group of dedicated CaM kinases, consisting of Myosin light chain kinase (MLCk), phosphorylase kinase and CaM kinase III (eEF-2k), the group of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, consisting of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), c-JUN NH2-terminal protein kinases (JNK), nemo-like kinase (NLK) and p38 kinase subfamilies, the group of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) family, consisting of the subfamilies, cell cycle related kinase (CCRK), cell division cycle 2 (CDC2), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 1-11, PCTAIRE protein kinase (PCTK) 1-3, PFTAIRE protein kinase (PFTK) 1-2 and cell division cycle 2-like 1 (PITSLRE proteins), the group of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3 (EIF2AK3) family, also named (PEK), consisting of the protein kinase interferon-inducible double stranded RNA (dsRNA) dependent (PKR) subfamily. A further embodiment of the present invention concerns a complex wherein the histidine protein kinase is selected from one of the eleven families HPK 1-11. A further embodiment of the present invention is a complex wherein the aPK is selected from the alpha protein kinase family, consisting of eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF- 2k), myosin heavy chain kinase (MHC-kinase), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 1 (E2K1) and channel kinase (Chakl and Chak2) subfamilies, the group of Fas-activated s/t kinase (FASTK) family, consisting of the FASTK subfamily, the group of protein tyrosine kinase 9 (A6) family, consisting of A6 and protein tyrosine kinase 9-like (A6r) subfamilies, the group of p21-activated protein kinases (PAK) family, consisting of the three highly conserved isoforms: alpha-PAK (PAK1), beta-PAK (PAK3) and gamma-PAK (PAK2, PAKI), the group of lnterleukin-1 (IL-l)-receptor-associated kinase ( I RAK) family, consisting of I RAK- 1 , I RAK-2, I RAK-3 and I RAK-4 subfam ilies, or derivatives, mutants or combinations thereof. These kinases were selected because they maintain their activity in a soluble complex. A further em bodim ent is a complex wherein the kinase activity of component B directly activates or inactivates com ponents of cell-regulatory pathways through phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, prenylation, and sulfation, altering the function, gene expression, or viability of a target cell, whereby a target cell is defined by the ability of component A to bind to the cell. Preferably the component B activates or inactivates components of cell-regulatory pathways through phosphorylation. I n a further embodim ent, component B of the complex is DAPK2 or a derivative thereof or EF-2K or a derivative thereof. Those two kinases were found to be particular effective in a complex according to the present invention. A further advantage of the DAPK2 is the existence of a constitutive active m utant of said enzym e which is particular suitable for the complex of the present invention. DAPKs are frequently found to be inactivated in human tumor cells. The complex of the present invention comprising such a DAPK is therefore particular useful since it enables the reintroduction of an active DAPK into, for example, a tumor. A complex comprising eEF-2k as component B has the advantage that it will be active in any hum an cell, since eEF-2k is ubiquitous. A derivative of those kinases is defined as a constitutively active kinase which has accum ulated at least one m utation and/or modification, i.e. a deletion, a substitution, a domain swapping, etc. Preferred m utations are conservative am ino acid changes, and preferred modifications are phosphorylations, acetylations, methylations etc. A further embodiment of the present invention is a complex comprising one or m ore supplem entary com ponents S which regulate protein biosynthesis on the transcription and/or translation level, and/or enable purification and/or detection of the complex or its com ponents, and/or facilitate translocation of at least component B into the target cell and intracellular separation therein, and/or activation of component B. A further embodiment of the present invention is a com plex wherein the com ponents are chem ically coupled and/or genetically fused to each other. A further embodiment are the genetically fused complexes nam ed L-DAPk2- Ki-4-l I l/G (SEQ I D NO: 2) , Ki-4-DAPk2-ll/G (SEQ I D NO: 4) and Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K (SEQ I D NO: 6) , encoded by the corresponding DNA m olecules with SEQ I D NOs 1 , 3, and 5, respectively. A further embodiment of the present invention are a nucleic acid molecule coding for said com plex or for individual components thererof for the preparation of such complex, and/or a vector com prising said nucleic acid m olecule. The present invention also concerns cells and non-human organisms synthesizing com plete complexes or individual components thereof after having been transform ed or transfected with nucleic acid molecules coding for said complexes of the present invention, or in vitro translation systems synthesizing complete com plexes or individual com ponents thereof. A further em bodiment are also an organism and/or a cell transformed or transfected with the nucleic acid molecule or vector encoding said complex or components thereof, whereby said organism is either a prokaryote, such as £ coli, B. subtilis, S. carnosus, S. coelicolor, and/ or Marinococcus sp. , or a lower eukaryote, such as Saccharomyces sp., Aspergillus sp. , Spodoptera sp. and/or P. pastoris, or a higher non- human eukaryote such as a plant and/or an animal, and the cell is a primary or cultivated mammalian cell, such as a freshly isolated human cell or a eukaryotic cell line, such as CHO, Cos or 293. A further em bodiment is a m ethod for influencing the growth and/or the physiology of the cells transfected or transform ed with the nucleic acid molecule or the vector encoding said complex, by culturing the cells under conditions supporting the activity of the complex. A further embodiment of the present invention is a kit comprising the complex and/or the nucleic acid molecule and/or the vector, and/or the cells and/or prokaryotes and/or lower eukaryotes transfected or transformed with said nucleic acid molecules of the present invention. A further em bodiment is the use of the complex, and/or the nucleic acid molecules, and/or vectors, and/or the cells and/or prokaryotes and/or lower eukaryotes transfected or transformed with said nucleic acid molecules and/or the kit for the preparation of a m edicament for the treatment of proliferative diseases, such as cancerous or non-cancerous proliferative diseases, allergies, autoimmune diseases and/or chronic inflammation.

A further embodiment is a medicament comprising a complex, and/or nucleic acid molecules and/or vectors and/or or cells or organisms synthesising the complex of present invention, for treating proliferative diseases, such as cancerous or non-cancerous proliferative diseases, allergies, autoimmune reactions, chronic inflammation reactions or tissue rejection reactions. A further embodiment is the ex vivo, in vivo or in vitro use of the complex, and/or the nucleic acid molecule and/or the vector, and/or the cells and/or the organisms synthesising the complex and/or the kit, for the targeted modulation of cellular signaling pathways. A further embodiment is the use of the complex, and/or the nucleic acid molecule and/or the vector, and/or the cells and/or organisms synthesising the complex and/or the kit for prognostic, diagnostic, and/or analytic kinase assays, and/or for the the development of such assays. A further embodiment is a method of treatment of proliferative diseases, such as cancerous or non-cancerous proliferative diseases, allergies, autoimmune diseases, and/or chronic inflammation comprising the steps of administering to a patient the complex of the present invention and/or the nucleic acid and/or the vector encoding said complex.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1: Cloning of pMS-(L-DAPk2-Ki-4)-lll/G (SEQ ID NO 1), pMS-(Ki-4- DAPk2)-ll/G (SEQ I D NO 3) and pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K (SEQ ID NO 5). Lane 1-3, PCR-amplification of DAPk2 and derivatives thereof. Lane 4, PCR- amplification of eEF-2K and derivatives thereof. (M, DNA-ladder; C, negative control).

Figure 2: Schematic structure of the eukaryotic expression cassettes pMS-(L- DAPKk2-Ki-4)-lll/G (SEQ ID NO 1), pMS-(Ki-4-DAPk2)-l l/G (SEQ ID NO 3) and prokaryotic expression module pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K coding region. Legends: hCMV = human Cyto-m.egaloy.irus prom otor/enhan-cer; \g-k-L = Jrnmunoglobin /appa-chain leader sequence; M / H = c-Myc epitope (EQKLISEEDL (SEQ ID NO: 8)) and Λexa-Histidine tag; IVS / IRES = intervening sequence / internal πbosome entry site; EGFP = enhanced green fluorescent protein; T7-lac = bacteriophage T7 promotor-Jactose operator; pelB = bacterial leader/signal sequence pectate Jyase B from Erwinia carotovora EC; His₁₀ = ofeca-Histidine tag; V_H = Immunoglobulin variable heavy-chain; V_L = Immunoglobulin variable Nght-chain; (G₄S)₃ = (Glycine x 4 - serine) x 3 linker; ATG = Translation initiation codon; Stop = Translation termination codon; DAPK2 = Death-associated βrotein-kinase 2 / DRP-1; eEF- 2K = eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase; Ki-4 = anti-CD30 immunoglobulin single-chain variable fragment (scFv).

Figure 3: Binding properties of the recombinant anti-CD30 immunokinases. Binding of pMS-(L-DAPk2-Ki-4)-lll/G (SEQ ID NO 2) to CD30-positive cells by flow cytometry. Cells were stained with purified Immunokinase (B) orwith PBS as negative control (A). Figure 4: Growth inhibition of Hodgkin-derived CD30-positive cell lines after incubation with pMS-(L-DAPk2-Ki-4)-lll/G as documented by cell-viability assays. L-540Cy cells were treated with different dilutions of recombinant ani- CD30 immunkinase, and their ability to. metabolize the XTT to a water-soluble formazan salt was measured as absorbance at 450 and 650 nm. Measurements were performed in triplicate. Results are presented as percentage of untreated control cells and to Zeocin-treated positive control.

Figure 5: Nucleic Acid sequence of the construct pMS-(L-DAPK2'-Ki-4)-lll/G open reading frame (ORF).

Figure 6: Amino acid sequence of the construct pMS-(L-DAPK2'-Ki-4)-lll/G open reading frame (ORF).

Figure 7: Nucleic acid sequence of the construct pMS-(L-DAPK2'-Ki-4)-l l/G ORF.

Figure 8: Amino acid sequence of the construct pMS-(L-DAPK2'-Ki-4)-ll/G ORF. Figure 9: Nucleic acid sequence of the construct pMT-Ki4 (scFv)-eEF-2K ORF. Figur 10: Am ino acid sequence of the construct pMT- Ki4 (scFv)-eEF-2K ORF.

Figur 1 1 : Am ino acid sequence of the synthetic linker.

Figure 12: Am ino acid sequence of the c-Myc epitope.

Figure 13: Motif in the domain I X of kinases.

Detailed description of th e invention

The complex according to the invention is a recombinant heterologous complex com prising at least two dom ains, i.e. one effector dom ain and at least one cell-specific binding domain. The complex according to the invention is usable for diagnosis and therapy of diseases.

The invention described herein draws on previously published work and pending patent applications. By way of example, such work consists of scientific papers, patents or pending patent applications. All of these publications and applications, cited previously or below are hereby incorporated by reference.

Definitions

As used herein, the term "im m unotoxin" refers to chim eric m olecules in which a cell-binding monoclonal antibody or fragments thereof are chemically coupled or genetically fused to toxins or their subunits. The toxin portion of the im m unotoxin can be derived form various sources, such as plants, animals, higher and lower microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, and in particular if the toxin is a catalytic enzyme, the enzyme can be of hum an origin. The toxin can also be a synthetic drug. I m m unotoxins as well their constructions are reviewed above and are well known to the person skilled in the art.

As used herein, the term "immunokinase" refers to chimeric molecules in which a cell- binding monoclonal antibody or fragments thereof are coupled or fused to kinases or their subunits harboring the kinase activity. The term im m unokinase is a synonym for the complex of the present invention. As used herein, the term "component A" of the complex represents the actively binding structure of the complex of present invention. The component A is selected from the group of actively binding structures consisting of antibodies or their derivatives or fragments thereof, synthetic peptides such as scFv, m im otopes, etc. or chem ical m olecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, peptides, vitam ins, etc. , and/or sm all m olecules with up to 100 atoms with receptor- binding activity like ligands, in particular single atoms, peptidic molecules, non-peptidic m olecules, etc. , and/or cell surface carbohydrate binding proteins and their ligands such as lectins, in particular calnexins, c-type lectins, l-type lectins, m-type lectins, p-type lectins, r-type lectins, galectins and their derivatives, and/or receptor binding molecules such as natural ligands to the cluster of differentiation (CD) antigens, like CD30, CD40, etc. , cytokines such as chem okines, colony stimulating factors, type- 1 cytokines, type-2 cytokines, interferons, interleukins, lymphokines, monokines, etc., and/or adhesion molecules including their derivatives and m utants, and/or derivatives or combinations of any of the above listed of actively binding structures, which bind to CD antigens, cytokine receptors, horm one receptors, growth factor receptors, ion pum ps, channel-form ing proteins. The com ponent A may also be selected from the group of passively binding structures consisting of allergens, peptidic allergens, recombinant allergens, allergen-idiotypical antibodies, autoim m une-provoking structures, tissue-rejection-inducing structures, imm unoglobulin constant regions and their derivatives, m utants or combinations thereof. A component A with higher valency may be generated by combining at least two identical or different binding structures selected from the above m entioned groups.

As used herein, the term "antibody" refers to polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, humanized antibodies, single-chain antibodies, and fragments thereof such as Fab, F(ab')2, Fv, and other fragments which retain the antigen binding fu nction and specificity of the parent antibody. As used herein, the term "monoclonal antibody" refers to an antibody composition having a hom ogeneous antibody population. The term is not limited regarding the species or source of the antibody, nor is it intended to be lim ited by the manner in which it is made. The term encompasses whole immunoglobulins as well as fragments such as Fab, F(ab')2, Fv, and others which retain the antigen binding function and specificity of the antibody. Monoclonal antibodies of any mam malian species can be used in this invention. I n practice, however, the antibodies will typically be of rat or m urine origin because of the availability of rat or m urine cell lines for use in making the required hybrid cell lines or hybridomas to produce m onoclonal antibodies. As used herein, the term "hum an antibodies" m eans that the framework regions of an imm unoglobulin are derived from hum an im m unoglobulin sequences.

As used herein, the term "single chain antibody fragments" (scFv) refers to antibodies prepared by determining the binding domains (both heavy and light chains) of a binding antibody, and supplying a linking moiety, which perm its preservation of the binding function. This forms, in essence, a radically abbreviated antibody, having only that part of the variable domain necessary for binding to the antigen. Determination and construction of single chain antibodies are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,778 to Ladner et al. The "com ponent B" of present invention represents the "targeted kinase" moiety of the im m unokinase of the present invention and m ay be selected from any kinase known in the art. Presently, over 5,000 kinase-like sequences from diverse species are available for analysis in public databases. The human genome appears to encode 510 protein kinases in addition to many pseudo- protein kinase genes, and these have been subclassified into over 57 families. There may well be additional protein kinases that rem ain to be identified (http://www.kinexus.ca/kinases.htm) . However, preferably com ponent B is chosen from the following three classes of kinases, which are all known to be active in humans and to retain their kinase activity in a soluble complex. 1 . The eukaryotic protein kinase (ePK) superfam ily, 2. the histidine protein kinase (HPK) superfam ily, or 3. the atypical protein kinase (aPK) superfam ily. If component B is chosen from the ePK superfamily, it is selected from the group of calcium/calmodulin-regulated (CaM) death-promoting kinases, consisting of death-associated protein kinase (DAP-kinase, DAPk), DAP kinase- related protein kinase 1 (DRP-1), also named DAP-kinase 2 (DAPk2), DAP like kinase/Zipper interacting protein kinase (Dlk/ZIP-kinase), also named DAP- kinase 3 (DAPK3) and DAP kinase related apoptosis-inducing kinase (DRAK1 and DRAK2) families, the group of calcium/calmodulin-regulated (CaM) death- promoting kinases-like (CAMKL) family, consisting of at least 49 subfamilies, protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 1 catalytic subunit (PRKAA1), protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 2 catalytic subunit (PRKAA2), BRSK1 and BRSK2, CHK1 checkpoint homologue (CHEK1), hormonally upregulated Neu-associated kinase (HUNK), serine/threonine kinase 11 (Peutz-Jeghers syndrome) (STK11), MAP/microtubule affinity-regulating kinase (MARK) 1-4, MARKps 01- 30, likely ortholog of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (KIAA0175), PAS domain containing serine/threonine kinase (PASK), NIM1, QIK and SNRK, the group of death-domain receptor interacting protein kinase (RIP-kinase) family, consisting of at least six subfamilies, RIP-kinase 1, RIP-kinase 2, RIP- kinase 3 and RIP-kinase 4, ankyrin repeat domain 3 (ANKRD3) and SqK288, the group of multifunctional CaM kinase family, consisting of CaM kinases I, II, including the microtubule affinity-regulating kinases (MARK) and microtubule affinity-regulating kinases-like 1 (MARKL1), CaM^' kinase IV and CaM kinase kinase subfamilies, the group of dedicated CaM kinases, consisting of Myosin light chain kinase (MLCk), phosphorylase kinase and CaM kinase III (eEF-2k), the group of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, consisting of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), c-JUN NH2-terminal protein kinases (JNK), nemo-like kinase (NLK) and p38 kinase subfamilies, the group of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) family, consisting of the subfamilies, cell cycle related kinase (CCRK), cell division cycle 2 (CDC2), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 1-11, PCTAIRE protein kinase (PCTK) 1-3, PFTAIRE protein kinase (PFTK) 1-2 and cell division cycle 2-like 1 (PITSLRE proteins), the group of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3 (EIF2AK3) family, also named (PEK), consisting of the protein kinase interferon-inducible double stranded RNA (dsRNA) dependent (PKR) subfamily. If component B is chosen from the HPK superfam ily, it is selected from the group of at least eleven fam ilies HPK 1 -1 1 .

If component B is chosen from the aPK superfam ily, it is selected from the group of alpha protein kinase fam ily, consisting of eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2k) , myosin heavy chain kinase (MHC-kinase) , eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 1 (E2K1 ) and channel kinase (Chakl and Chak2) subfam ilies, the group of Fas-activated s/t kinase (FASTK) fam ily, consisting of the FASTK subfam ily, the group of protein tyrosine kinase 9 (A6) fam ily, consisting of A6 and protein tyrosine kinase 9-like (A6r) subfam ilies, the group of p21-activated protein kinases (PAK) fam ily, consisting of the three highly conserved isoforms: alpha-PAK (PAK1 ) , beta-PAK (PAK3) and gam ma-PAK (PAK2, PAKI), the group of l nterleukin- 1 (I L-l )-receptor- associated kinase ( I RAK) fam ily, consisting of I RAK- 1 , I RAK-2, I RAK-3 and I RAK-4 subfamilies. The term "target cell" and or "target tissue" refers to cells or tissues carrying an extracellular surface structure to which the component A of the complex actively or passively binds. Target cells and target tissues are thus cells and tissues to which the component A of the complex can bind. The target cells and target tissues are further characterized by their ability to internalize the complex according to the present invention upon binding of component A.

The term "soluble" refers to the ability of the complex to stay in solution when recom binantly expressed, in particular during protein purification, enabling high yields. The term "soluble" also refers to the state of the complex in fluidic systems inside an organism , until specifically attached to the target cell/tissue. The term also refers to the state of the complex inside a cell upon release from any kind of incorporation vesicles.

The term "endogenous" refers to the localization of the complex in the surrounding/environment of a given target cell/tissue. The term synthetic refers to a man-m ade complex, not found in nature. The term also comprises the m eaning of "recombinant".

The term "recombinant" refers to the preparation of m olecules, in particular the covalent joining of m olecules from different sources, by any one of the known methods of molecular biology. As used in the present invention, the term "recombinant" refers in particular to the fusion of the antibody part to the toxin part by any one of the known m ethods of m olecular biology, such as through production of single chain antibodies. The recombinant DNA molecule encoding the recombinant fusion protein comprising the antibody part and the toxin part are recom binantly expressed. Recombinant im m unotoxin produced in this way m ay be isolated by any technique known in the field of recom binant DNA expression technology suitable for this purpose. The term "derivative" refers to a m utated or modified protein which has retained its characterizing activity, i.e. binding activity or kinase activity. Particular preferred are constitutively active derivatives. The term derivative comprises proteins which carry at least one am ino acid substitution, deletion, addition, a swapping of a single domain or at least one modification of at least one am ino acid. Preferred are derivatives which carry 20 such changes, m ore preferred are those with 10 such changes and m ost preferred are those with 1 to 5 such changes. Modifications, which can occur, are phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, prenylation and sulfation.

As used herein, the term "vector" comprises DNA and RNA forms of a plasm id, a cosm id, a phage, phagemid, derivatives of them , or a virus. A vector comprises control sequences and coding sequences.

The term "expression of the recombinant genes encoding the recombinant complex", wherein the recombinant complex is a single chain antibody-toxin moiety fusion polypeptide, also called recombinant im m unokinase, refers to the transformation and/or transfection of a host cell with a nucleic acid or vector encoding such a complex, and culturing said host cells selected from the group of bacteria, such as £ coli, and/or in yeast, such as in S. cerevisiae, and/or in established mam malian or insect cell lines, such as CHO, COS, BHK, 293T and MDCK cells, and/or in primary cells, such as human cells, non- human vertebrate cells, and/or in invertebrate cells such as insect cells, and the synthesis and translation of the corresponding m RNA, finally giving rise to the recombinant protein, the recombinant com plex. I n m ore detail, the term "expression of the recombinant genes encoding the recombinant com plex", comprises the following steps:

Transformation of an appropriate cellular host with a recom binant vector, in which a nucleotide sequence coding for the fusion protein had been inserted under the control of the appropriate regulatory elem ents, particularly a promoter recognized by the polymerases of the cellular host. I n the case of a prokaryotic host, an appropriate ribosome binding site (RBS) also precedes the nucleotide sequence coding for the fusion protein, enabling the translation in said cellular host. In the case of an eukaryotic host any artificial signal sequence or pre/pro sequence may be provided, or the natural signal sequence may be employed. The transformed cellular host is cultured under conditions enabling the expression of said insert.

As used herein, the expression "killing of antigen-expressing cells" refers to the inhibition of protein synthesis or induction of apoptosis, resulting in elim ination or death of these cells.

The term "supplem entary components S", refers to an additional com ponent of the complex com prising A and B. The supplem entary component S contributes features and properties to the complex which allow efficient preparation and/or modify the effectiveness of the complex: - the inducible regulation of transcription/translation (e.g. , inducible promoters);

- control of protein biosynthesis (e.g. , leader sequences) ;

- purification/detection of the complex or its components (e.g., His tag, affinity tags) ; - translocation of the apoptotic agents into the target cells (e.g., translocation domain, amphiphatic sequences) ;

- intracellular activation/separation of component B (synthetic pro-granzym e B, amphiphatic sequences) .

Thus the component S is selected from the group of inducible prom oters, leader sequences, affinity tags, His tags, translocation domain, am phiphatic sequences and synthetic pro-granzym e B. The invention also relates to nucleic acid molecules, such as DNA and/or RNA, or vectors, which code for the complex of the present invention or for individual components for preparing the complex. The feasability of the expression of the nucleic acids encoding a recombinant complex in eukaryotic cells of human origin is successfully documented here, as well as the feasibility to use the complex as an specific apoptotic agents in eukaryotic cells of hum an origin. This suggests the suitability of nucleic acids coding for a complex according to the invention also for non germ line gene-therapeutic approaches. A person skilled in the art is capable of recognizing the various aspects and possibilities of gene-therapeutic interventions in connection with the various diseases to be treated. I n addition to the local application of relatively non-specific vectors (e.g., cationic lipids, non-viral, adenoviral and retroviral vectors), a system ic application with modified target-cell-specific vectors will also becom e possible in the near future. Complexes and nucleic acid molecules and/or vectors coding for the complexes of present invention, are used for the preparation of medicaments for non-germ line gene therapeutic interventions, for the local or system ic application. An interesting alternative to systemic application are the well- aimed ex vivo transfection of defined cell populations and their return into the organism , or the use of the ex vivo transfected defined cell populations for the preparation of a m edicament for the treatment of diseases associated with these cell populations.

Also claimed are cells or in vitro translation systems, which synthesize complete complexes according to the invention or individual components thereof, after transformation and/or transfection with, or addition of the nucleic acid molecules or vectors according to the invention.

Cells or organisms according to the invention are either of prokaryotic origin, especially from £ coli, B. subtilis, S. carnosus, S. coelicolor, Marinococcus sp. , or eukaryotic origin, especially from Saccharomyces sp. , Aspergillus sp. , Spodoptera sp. , P. pastoris, primary or cultivated mam malian cells, eukaryotic cell lines (e.g. , CHO, Cos or 293) or plants (e.g. N. tabacum ).

The invention also relates to m edicam ents comprising the complex according to the present invention and/or the nucleic acid or vectors encoding the complex of present invention. Typically, the complexes according to the invention are administered in physiologically acceptable dosage forms. These include, for exam ple, Tris, NaCI, phosphate buffers and all approved buffer systems, especially including buffer systems, which are characterized by the addition of approved protein stabilizers. The administration is effected, in particular, by parenteral, intravenous, subcutaneous, intram uscular, intratumoral, transnasal administrations, and by transm ucosal application. The dosage of the complexes according to the invention to be adm inistered m ust be established for each application in each disease to be newly treated by clinical phase I studies (dose-escalation studies) .

Nucleic acids or vectors, which code for a com plex according to the invention, are advantageously adm inistered in physiologically acceptable dosage forms. These include, for example, Tris, NaCI, phosphate buffers and all approved buffer systems, especially including buffer systems, which are characterized by the addition of approved stabilizers for the nucleic acids and/or vectors to be used. The adm inistration is effected, in particular, by parenteral, intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intratumoral, transnasal adm inistrations, and by transm ucosal application. The complex according to the invention, nucleic acid molecules coding therefore and/or cells or in vitro translation systems can be used for the preparation of a medicament for treating tumor diseases, allergies, autoim m une diseases, and chronic/ acute inflammation reactions.

Resu lts

Following the construction of three types of recombinant complexes (im m unokinases) , first results obtained demonstrate their superior quality with regard to binding specificity as well as cytoxicity. Construction and expression of a recombinant com plex (im m unokinase^') PCR-am plified DAPK2' DNA (Fig. 1 ) was directionally cloned into the ampicillin- resistant pMS- (L-ANG- Ki-4)-I M/G eukaryotic expression vector containing a /gf/ -leader (L) sequence at the N-term inus, Ki-4(scFv) (component A) and a tandem Myc- and His-Tag epitope at the C-term inus of the expression cassette (Fig. 2) Successful cloning was verified by DNA sequence analysis. Three days after transfection of 293T-cells, the appropriate sized expected recombinant com plex (im m uno-kinase) pMS-(L- DAPk2- Ki-4)-l l l/G (M_r - 66,000) was detected by Western blot analysis of protein mini-preparations. Transfected producer-cells were further cultivated under Zeocin selection pressure in medium culture flasks and were used for larger scale production of the recombinant complex (immunokinase) pMS-(L- DAPk2- Ki-4)-l l l/G. Under norm al culture conditions, between 0.1 and 0.5 μg of the recombinant protein were purified from 1 ml cell culture supernatant by a one step Ni-NTA purification procedure. The intact recombinant complex (imm unokinase) was secreted into the supernatant of transfected 293T-cells, as visualized by imm unoblot using m ouse-anti-penta-His m onoclonal antibody.

PCR-amplified eEF-2K DNA encoding component B (Fig. 1 , 4a-e) was directionally cloned into the pET-derived kanamycin-resistant pBM- Ki-4(scFv) prokaryotic expression vector containing an I PTG-inducible lac operator, a pelB signal peptide followed by an enterokinase-cleavable His₁₀ tag, and Ki-4(scFv)

(component A) (Fig. 2). Successful cloning of the recombinant com plex construct pMT- Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K was verified by DNA sequence analysis. After transformation, recombinant E.coli BL21 Star™ ( DE3) clones were cultivated under osmotic stress conditions in the presence of compatible solutes. The recombinant complex (im munokinase) was directed into the periplasmic space and the functional pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K (Λ _r ~ 1 13,000) protein directly purified by combination of I MAC and SEC to > 90% purity. At least 1 mg of purified pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K protein was routinely prepared from 1 liter of bacterial shaking cultures. The intact recom binant complex (im m unokinase) was secreted to the periplasmic com partment, as visualized by immunoblot using mouse-anti-penta-His monoclonal antibody.

Binding properties of recombinant complexes (im m unokinases) Fusing the Ki-4(scFv) coding regions, component A of the complex, to the kinase coding sequences, component B of the complex, did not affect the binding activity of the VH/V antibody form at of com ponent A. Com ponent A conferred specificity against the CD30 molecule. The purified recom binant complex (immunokinase) comprising the anti-CD30 component A always bound to the Hodgkin-derived cell line L540Cy as measured by flow cytometry (Fig. 3).

In vitro cytotoxic activity To characterize the cytotoxic activity of the recombinant complex comprising anti-CD30 (as component A) and kinases (component B) in vitro, the proliferation of different target cells was evaluated after incubation with different amounts of the recom binant com plexes (im m unokinases) pMS-(L- DAPk2-Ki-4)-l l l/G and pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K, respectively. Growth inhibition of the CD30-positive cell lines L540Cy and HL60 were documented by a XTT- „ based colorimetric assay. Toxic effects were observed only against CD30- positive cells with a calculated median I C₅₀ of betwenn 4 and 35 ng/ml on L540Cy cells (Fig. 4) The CD30-negative Ramos and 8701 -BC cell lines were not affected by recom binant im munokinase concentrations of up to 10 μg/m l. Thus the component A (anti-CD30 scFv) of the complex conferred specificity to the recombinant complex, limiting the cytotoxic effects of the kinase domain to the selected target cells.

Exam ples Bacterial strains, oligonucleotides. and plasm ids Ecoli XL1 -blue (supE44 hsdR17 recA1 endA1 gyr A46 thi relA1 lacF'[pro AB⁺ lacl lacZ ?M15 Tn10(tet^r)]) were used for the propagation of plasm ids, and Ecoli BL21 Star™ (DE3) (F^" ompT hsdSB(rB^"m B^") gal dcm rne131 DE3) as host for synthesis of recombinant im m unokinases. Synthetic oligonucleotides were synthesized by MWG Biotech (Ebersberg, Germany). The bacterial expression vector pBM- Ki-4 is derived from the pET27b plasm id (Novagen, Madison, USA), and is used for the expression of the C-term inal fusion of Not l/Blp l-kinase domains to the anti-CD30 scFv (Klimka, A. et al. , 1999) . The eukaryotic expression vectors pMSKAngl l and pMSLAngKI I I are derived from the pSecTag plasm id (I nvitrogen, Carlsbad, USA) and are used for N- or C- term inal fusion of Xbal/ Blpl -kinase domains to the Ki-4(scFv) (Stocker, M. et al. , 2003). Plasm ids were prepared by the alkaline lysis m ethod and purified using plasmid preparation kits from Qiagen (Hilden, Germany). Restriction fragments or PCR products were separated by horizontal agarose gel electrophoresis and extracted with QIAquick (Qiagen). All standard cloning procedures were carried out as described by Sambrook, J. et al. , 1989.

Cell culture

All cell lines, including the CD30-positive cell lines L540Cy ( Kapp, U. et al. , 1992) and HL-60 (Thepen, T. Utrecht, The Netherlands) the CD30-negative cell lines Ramos (ATCC, VA, USA) and 8701-BC (Minafra, S. et al. , 1989) and the producer cell line 293T (ATCC) were cultivated in com plex medium (RPMI 1640) supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated fetal calf serum , 50 μg/m l penicillin, 100 μg/m l streptomycin and 2 m M L-glutamine. All cells were cultured at 37 °C in a 5% CQ, in air atmosphere. For the selection of transfected cells, Zeocin ( I nvitrogen) was added to a final concentration of 100 μg/ml.

Construction and expression of recombinant com plexes (im m unokinases) Cloning and expression of pMS-(L-DAPk2-Ki-4)-lll/G (SEQ ID NO 1) and pMS- (Ki-4-DAPk2)-ll/G (SEQ ID NO 3)

For the construction of a vector encoding a recombinant complex with N- or C-term inal DAP-kinase 2 (DAPk2) -fusions, DAPk2 was PCR amplified to introduce the restriction sites Xbal and Blpl. After Xbal/Blpl- digestion, the PCR-product was cloned into the. eukaryotic expression vector pMS-(L-ANG-Ki- 4)-l l l/G and pMS-(Ki-4-ANG)-l l/G respectively, digested with the sam e restriction enzym es. The resulting recombinant constructs pMS-(L- DAPk2- Ki- 4)-l l l/G (SEQ I D NO: 1 ) and pMS-(Ki-4-DAPk2)-l l/G (SEQ I D NO: 3) encoding the imm ukinase proteins L-DAPk2-Ki-4-MH (SEQ I D NO 2) and L-Ki-4-DAPk2- MH (SEQ I D NO 4) were verified by sequence analysis. After TransFast- mediated (Promega, Mannhein, Germany) transformation into 293T-cells, the recombinant imm unokinase was expressed as described by Stόcker M. et al. , 2003. Briefly, one μg plasm id-DNA and 3μl TransFast have been used according to the manufactures protocol for 12 well cell culture plates. Transfection efficiency was between 75 and 95% determ ined by counting green fluorescent cells. 3 days after initial transfection, cell culture supematants were analyzed for recombinant protein. Subsequently, transfected cells were transferred into medium-sized cell culture flasks (Nunc; 85m²) and grown in RPMI complex m edium supplemented with 1 00 μg/m l Zeocin. One to two weeks productively transfected clones were green fluorescing and hence could be detected by fluorescence m icroscopy. Transfected cell populations were established by subcultivation of these clones. Purifications of the His-tagged proteins were accomplished by the Ni- NTA metal-affinity method (Hochuli, V. , 1989, Porath, J. et al. , 1975) (Qiagen). The protein purification followed a modified protocol for the purification of native protein from Qiagen ( The Expressionist 07/97) . For protein m ini-preparation, 900 μl centrifugation-cleared cell culture supernatant was supplemented with 300μl of 4x incubation buffer (200m M NaH₂P0₄, pH 8.0; 1.2M NaCI; 40mM I midazol) and 30μl 50% Ni-NTA. Following 1 h incubation, the Ni- NTA resin was pelleted by centrifugation. After washing the sediment twice in 175 μl 1 x incubation buffer, bound protein was eluted with 30 μl of elution buffer (50mM NaH₂P0_4> pH 8.0 ; 1 .2M NaCI; and 40 m M imidazol) and 30μl 50% Ni-NTA. Following an 1 h incubation, the Ni- NTA resin was pelleted by centrifugation. After washing the sediment twice in 175 μl 1 x incubation buffer, bound protein was eluted with 30 μl of elution buffer (50m M NaH₂P0₄, pH8.0; 300m M NaCI; 250m M I midazol) for 20m in at RT. Larger scale purification of eukaryotically-expressed proteins up to 500m l cell culture supernatant was perform ed on a BioLogic workstation (Bio-Rad, USA) . Cell culture supematants were loaded onto a Ni- NTA colum n and following elution of the His-tagged proteins were made under the conditions described above.

Cloning and expression of pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K

The eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2k) was amplified by PCR to introduce the restriction sites Notl and Blpl. After Λ/ot//β/p/-digestion, the PCR-fragment was cloned into the bacterial expression vector pBM-Ki-4, digested with the same restriction enzymes. The resulting recom binant construct pMT-Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K (SEQ I D NO: 5) was verified by DNA sequence analysis. After transformation into BL21 Star™ (DE3), the imm unokinase Ki-4(scFv)-eEF-2K (SEQ I D NO 6) were periplasm ically expressed under osmotic stress in the presence of compatible solutes as described by Barth, S. et al. 2000. Briefly, transformed bacteria were harvested 15 h after I PTG induction. The bacterial pellet was resuspended in sonication-buffer (75 m M Tris/HCI (pH 8) , 300 m M NaCI, 1 capsule of protease inhibitors/ 50 m l (Complete™, Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim , Germany) , 5 m M DTT, 10 m M EDTA, 10% (v/v) glycerol) at 4 °C and sonicated 6 times for 30 s at 200 W. The m22(scFv)- ETA^" fusion proteins were enriched by I MAC (im mobilized metal-ion affinity . chromatography) using nickel- nitriloacetic chelating Sepharose (Qiagen) and SEC (size exclusion chrom atography) with Bio-Prep SE- 1 00/17 (Biorad, Mϋnchen, Germany) colum ns according to the manufacturer's instructions. Recombinant Protein was eluted with PBS (pH 7.4) and 1 M NaCI, analyzed by Sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), quantified by densitometry (GS-700 Imaging Densitometer; Biorad) after Coomassie staining in comparison with BSA standards and verified by Bradford assays ( Biorad) . SDS- PAGE and Western Blot Analysis

SDS- PAGE, Coomassie staining, and Western blotting were perform ed as described by Barth, S. et al., 1998. Briefly, recom binant His-tagged im m unokinases were detected by m ouse-anti-penta-His moab (Qiagen). Bound antibody was detected by a horseradish-conjugated donkey-anti- mouse-lgG moab (Dianova, Hamburg, Germany) , followed by ECL-m ediated (Amersham Biosciences, Freiburg, Germany), chemiluminescence reaction and exposition to appropriate X-ray film (Roche, Penzberg, Germany) or alkaline- phosphatase-conjugated anti-mouse-lgG m oab (Sigm a Chem ical Co. , Deisenhofen, Germ any) and a solution of Tris-HCI (pH 8.0) and 0.2 mg/m l naphtol-AS-Bi-phosphate (Sigma Chemical Co.) supplemented with 1 mg/ml Fast-Red (Serva, Heidelberg, Germ any) .

Cell membrane (CM) ELISA The binding activity of recombinant complexes (im munokinases) were determ ined by CM- ELISA using biological active membranes of tum or cells as described recently by Tur, MK. et al., 2003. Briefly, ELI SA Maxisorp-Plates (Nalge Nunc International, Roskilde, Denmark) were coated with 1 00 μl (~ 0.9 mg protein/m l) freshly prepared mem brane fractions of CD30-positive L540Cy/HL60 cells and Ramos/8701 - BC as control in 0.02 M bicarbonate buffer, pH 9.6, overnight at 4^CC. Plates were washed five times with PBS (pH 7.4) containing 0.2% Tween 20 (TPBS) and blocked with 200 μl 2% BSA in PBS. After overnight incubation at 4^CC, plates were washed five times with TPBS and 1 - 10 μg/m l of recombinant imm unokinases diluted with 0.5% BSA (w/v) and 0.05% Tween 20 (v/v) in PBS was added to the plates and incubated at RT (23°C) for 1 h. Peroxidase labeled anti-His IgG conjugate (Qiagen) were added diluted with 0.5% BSA and 0.05% Tween 20 in PBS according to manufactures instructions. Bound antibodies were visualized after addition of 1 00 μl 2', 2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) solution (Roche Molecular Biochemical's, Mannheim, Germany) by measuring the extinction at 415 nm with an ELI SA-Reader (MWG Biotech). Flow cytom etry analyses

Cell binding activity of the recombinant complexes (im m unokinases) expressed in E.coli BL21 Star™ (DE3) was evaluated using a FACSCalibur flow cytometry instrum ent and CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson, Heidelberg, Germany). Cells were stained with recombinant protein as described (25). Briefly, ten thousand events were collected for each sample, and analyses of intact cells were performed using appropriate scatter gates to exclude cellular debris and aggregates. 5 x 10⁵ cells were incubated for 1 h on ice with 50 μl of bacterial protein extract at a concentration of 30-40 μg/ml or 100 μl of the imm unokuinase containing supernatants respectively. The cells were washed with PBS buffer containing 0.2% w/v BSA and 0.05% w/v sodium azide (PBA) and then incubated for 30 min with anti-penta-His moab (Qiagen) diluted 1 : 2 in PBA buffer. Cells were washed and incubated with fluorescein-iso- thiocyanate (FITC) -labeled goat-anti-mouse IgG (DAKO Diagnostica, Hamburg, Germ any) for 1 h at 4°C. After a final wash, the cells were treated with 2μl 6.25 mg/m l propidium iodide and subsequently analyzed on a FACScalibur (Becton Dickison, Heidelberg, Germ any) .

Colorimetric cell proliferation assay The cytotoxic effect of the recombinant com plexes (im m unokinases) on target cells was determ ined by m easurement of metabolization of yellow tetrazolium salt (XTT) to a water soluble orange form zan dye was determ ined as published by Barth, S. et al. 2000. Various dilutions of the recombinant imm unokinase were distributed in 100 μl-aliquots in 96-well plates. Two-four x 10⁴ target cells in 100 μl aliquots of complete medium were added and the plates were incubated for 48 h at 37 °C. Afterwards, the cell cultures were pulsed with 100 μl fresh culture medium supplemented with XTT/PMS (final concentrations of 0.3 mg and 0.383 ng respectively) for 4 h. The spectrophotom etrical absorbances of the samples were measured at 450 and 650 nm (reference wavelength) with an ELISA reader (MWG Biotech). The concentration required to achieve a 50% reduction of protein synthesis ( IC₅₀) relative to untreated control cells and to 1 % Triton X treated positive controls was calculated graphically via Excel generated diagrams. All measurem ents were done in triplicate.

REFERENCES

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(Ang-CD30L) exhibits specific cytotoxicity against CD30-positive lymphoma. Cancer Res, 61: 8737-8742, 2001.

9. Newton, D. L. and Rybak, S. M. Preparation and preclinical characterization of RNase-based immunofusion proteins. Methods Mol Biol, 160: 387-406, 2001.

10. Goueli, S. Protein Kinases as Drug Targets in High-Throughput Systems. Promega Notes, 75: 24-28, 2000. 11. Manning, G., Whyte, D. B., Martinez, R., Hunter, T. , and Sudarsanam, S. The Protein Kinase Complem ent of the Human Genome. Science, 298: 1 912- 1934, 2002.

12. Hanks, S. K., Quinn, A. M. , and Hunter, T. The protein kinase fam ily: conserved features and deduced phylogeny of the catalytic domains. Science,

241: 42-52, 1988.

13. Ryazanov, A. G., Pavur, K. S., and Dorovkov, M. V. Alpha-kinases: a new class of protein kinases with a novel catalytic domain. Curr Biol, 9: 43-45, 1999. 14. Braun, A. P. and Schulman, H. The m ultifunctional calcium/calmodulin- dependent protein kinase: from form to function. Annu Rev Physiol, 57: 417- 445, 1995.

15. Deiss, L P. , Feinstein, E., Berissi, H., Cohen, O., and Kimchi, A. Identification of a novel serine/threonine kinase and a novel 15-kD protein as potential m ediators of the gamma interferon-induced cell death. Genes Dev, 9: 15-30, 1995.

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Claims

CLAI MS

1. A synthetic, soluble, endogenous complex formed from at least one component A and at least one component B, whereby com ponent A comprises a binding domain for extra-cellular surface structures that internalize upon binding of component A of said complex, and com ponent B has a constitutive catalytic kinase activity and effects cell biosynthesis/signaling including cell death after intemalization.

2. The complex according to claim 1 , whereby the component A is selected from the group of actively binding structures consisting of antibodies or their derivatives or fragments thereof, and/or synthetic peptides such as scFv, m imotopes, and/or chem ical molecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, peptides, vitamins, and/or sm all molecules with up to 100 atoms with receptor-binding activity such as ligands, in particular single ions, peptidic molecules, non- peptidic m olecules, and/or cell surface carbohydrate binding proteins and their ligands such as lectins, in particular calnexins, c-type lectins, l-type lectins, m-type lectins, p- type lectins, r-type lectins, galectins and their derivatives, and/or receptor binding molecules such as natural ligands to the cluster of differentiation (CD) antigens, like CD30, CD40, cytokines such as chem okines, colony stim ulating factors, type-1 cytokines, type-2 cytokines, interferons, interleukins, lymphokines, monokines, and/or adhesion molecules including their derivatives and m utants, and/or derivatives or combinations of any of the above listed actively binding structures, which bind to CD antigens, cytokine receptors, hormone receptors, growth factor receptors, ion pumps, channel-forming proteins.

3. The com plex according to anyone of claims 1 and 2, whereby component A is selected from the group of passively binding structures consisting of allergens, peptidic allergens, recombinant allergens, allergen-idiotypical antibodies, autoim m une-provoking structures, tissue-rejection-inducing structures, im m unoglobulin constant regions and their derivatives, m utants or com binations thereof.

4. The com plex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the com ponent A directs the complex to a target cell comprising the binding partner for the binding structures of claims 2 and 3.

5. The complex according to anyone the of claims 1 to 4, wherein component A has higher valency by comprising two or more binding structures selected from anyone of those listed in claims 2 and/or 3.

6. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 5, wherein component B is at least one kinase chosen from the following three classes of kinases: 1 . eukaryotic protein kinase (ePK) superfamily, 2. histidine protein kinase (HPK) superfam ily or 3. atypical protein kinase (aPK) superfam ily.

7. The com plex according to claim 6, wherein the ePK is selected from the group of calcium/calm odulin-regulated (CaM) death-promoting kinases, consisting of death-associated protein kinase (DAP-kinase, DAPk) , DAP kinase-related protein kinase 1 (DRP-1 ), also nam ed DAP-kinase 2 (DAPk2), DAP like kinase/Zipper interacting protein kinase (Dlk/ZI P- kinase), also named DAP-kinase 3 (DAPK3) and DAP kinase related apoptosis-inducing kinase (DRAK1 and DRAK2) fam ilies, the group of Group of calcium/calmodulin-regulated (CaM) death-promoting kinases- like (CAMKL) fam ily, consisting of at least 49 subfam ilies, protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 1 catalytic subunit (PRKAA1 ) , protein kinase AMP- activated alpha 2 catalytic subunit (PRKAA2) , BRSK1 and BRSK2, CHK1 checkpoint homologue (CHEK1 ), hormonally upregulated Neu- associated kinase (HUNK) , serine/threonine kinase 1 1 (Peutz-Jeghers syndrome) (STK1 1 ), MAP/m icrotubule affinity-regulating kinase (MARK) 1 -4, MARKps 01 -30, likely ortholog of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (KIAA0175), PAS domain containing serine/threonine kinase (PASK), NIM1, QIK and SNRK, the group of death-domain receptor interacting protein kinase (RIP-kinase) family, consisting of at least six subfamilies, RIP-kinase 1, RIP-kinase 2, RIP-kinase 3 and RIP- kinase 4, ankyrin repeat domain 3 (ANKRD3) and SqK288, the group of multifunctional CaM kinase family, consisting of CaM kinases I, II, including the microtubule affinity-regulating kinases (MARK) and microtubule affinity-regulating kinases-like 1 (MARKL1), CaM kinase IV and CaM kinase kinase subfamilies, the group of dedicated CaM kinases, consisting of Myosin light chain kinase (MLCk), phosphorylase kinase and CaM kinase III, the group of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, consisting of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), c-JUN NH2-terminal protein kinases (JNK), nemo-like kinase (NLK) and p38 kinase subfamilies, the group of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) family, consisting of the subfamilies, cell cycle related kinase (CCRK), cell division cycle 2 (CDC2), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 1- 11, PCTAIRE protein kinase (PCTK) 1-3, PFTAIRE protein kinase (PFTK) 1-2 and cell division cycle 2-like 1 (PITSLRE proteins), the group of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3 (EIF2AK3) family, also named (PEK), consisting of the protein kinase interferon- inducible double stranded RNA (dsRNA) dependent (PKR) subfamily.

8. The complex according to claim 6, wherein the histidine protein kinase is selected from one of the eleven families HPK 1-11.

9. The complex according to claim 6, wherein the aPK is selected from the alpha protein kinase family, consisting of eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2k), myosin heavy chain kinase (MHC-kinase), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 1 (E2K1) and channel kinase (Chakl and Chak2) subfamilies, the group of Fas-activated s/t kinase (FASTK) family, consisting of the FASTK subfamily, the group of protein tyrosine kinase 9 (A6) family, consisting of A6 and protein tyrosine kinase 9-like (A6r) subfam ilies, the group of p21-activated protein kinases (PAK) fam ily, consisting of the three highly conserved isoforms: alpha-PAK (PAK1 ) , beta-PAK (PAK3) and gam m a-PAK (PAK2, PAKI) , the group of l nterleukin- 1 ( I L- l )-receptor-associated kinase ( I RAK) fam ily, consisting of I RAK- 1 , I RAK- 2, I RAK-3 and I RAK- 4 subfam ilies, or derivatives, m utants or combinations thereof.

10. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 9, whereby the constitutive kinase activity of component B directly activates or inactivates components of cell-regulatory pathways through e.g. phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, prenylation, and sulfation, thereby altering the function, gene expression, or viability of a target cell, whereby the target cell is defined by the binding of component A to it.

11. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 10, whereby component B comprises DAP-kinase 2 (DAPk2) or a derivative thereof.

12. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 10, whereby component B comprises eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2k) or a derivative thereof.

13. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 12, comprising one or m ore supplem entary component S which regulates protein biosynthesis on the transcription and/or translation level, and/or enables purification and/or detection of the complex, and/or facilitates translocation of at least component B into the target cell, and intracellular separation and/or activation of component B, whereby the com ponent S is selected from the group of inducible prom oters, leader sequences, affinity tags, His tags, translocation domain, amphiphatic sequences and synthetic pro-granzyme B.

14. The complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 13, wherein the components are chem ically coupled and/or genetically fused to each other.

15. The complex according to anyone of claims 1 to 14, having the am ino acid sequences of SEQ I D NO: 2, SEQ I D NO: 4 and SEQ I D NO: 6.

16. A nucleic acid molecule coding for the com plex according to anyone of claims 1 to 15 or for individual components thereof for the preparation of such complex, and/or a vector com prising said nucleic acid m olecule.

17. A cell or non-human organism after having been transform ed or transfected with the nucleic acid molecule or vector according to claim 1 6, and/or an in vitro translation systems synthesizing the complete com plex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 15 or individual components thereof.

1S.- The organism or cell according to claim 17, wherby the organism is either a prokaryote, such as £ coli, B. subtilis, S. carnosus, S. coelicolor, and/or Marinococcus sp. , or a lower eukaryote, such as Saccharomyces sp., Aspergillus sp. , Spodoptera sp. and/or P. pastoris, a higher non- . human eukaryote such as a plant and/or an anim al, and the cell is a primary or cultivated mam malian cell, such as a freshly isolated human cell or a eukaryotic cell line such as CHO, Cos or 293.

19. A method for influencing the growth and/or the physiology of the cells according to anyone of the claims 18 and 19, by culturing the cells under conditions supporting the activity of the complex.

20. A kit comprising the complexes according to anyone of the claims 1 to 15, and/or the nucleic acid m olecule and/or the vector of claim 1 6, and/or the cells and/or non-human organisms of claims 17 or 18.

21 . Use of the complex of claims 1 to 15 and/or the nucleic acid molecule and/or vector of claim 16, and/or the cells and/or non-human organisms of claims 17 or 18, and/or the kit of claim 20 for the preparation of a medicament for the treatm ent of proliferative diseases, such as cancerous or non-cancerous proliferative diseases, allergies, autoimm une diseases, and/or chronic inflam mation.

22. A medicam ent comprising the com plex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 15, the nucleic acid m olecule and/or vector according to claim 16, or the cells or non-human organisms according to either one of claims 18 or 19.

23. Use of the complex according to anyone of the claims 1 to 15, and/or of the nucleic acid molecules and/or vectors of claim 1 6, and/or of the cells <Α ! and/or non-hum an organisms of claims 17 or 18, and/or the the kit according to claim 20 for targeted modulation of cellular signaling pathways.

24. Use of the com plex according to any of the claims 1 to 15, of the nucleic acid molecules and/or vectors of 1 6, and/or of the cells and/or the non- human organisms of claims 17 or 18, for the development of prognostic, diagnostic, and analytic kinase assays.