Analysis of EGFR binding hotspots for design of new EGFR inhibitory biologics

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) is activated by the binding of one of seven EGF-like ligands to its ectodomain. Ligand binding results in EGFR dimerization and stabilization of the active receptor conformation subsequently leading to activation of downstream signaling. Aberrant activation of EGFR contributes to cancer progression through EGFR overexpression/amplification, modulation of its positive and negative regulators, and/or activating mutations within EGFR. EGFR targeted therapeutic antibodies prevent dimerization and interaction with endogenous ligands by binding the ectodomain of EGFR. However, these antibodies have had limited success in the clinic, partially due to EGFR ectodomain resistance mutations, and are only applicable to a subset of patients with EGFR-driven cancers. These limitations suggest that alternative EGFR targeted biologics need to be explored for EGFR-driven cancer therapy. To this end, we analyze the EGFR interfaces of known inhibitory biologics with determined structures in the context of endogenous ligands, using the Rosetta macromolecular modeling software to highlight the most important interactions on a per-residue basis. We use this analysis to identify the structural determinants of EGFR targeted biologics. We suggest that commonly observed binding motifs serve as the basis for rational design of new EGFR targeted biologics, such as peptides, antibodies, and nanobodies.