Receptor-tyrosine-kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1 (ROR1) is a tyrosine-protein kinase transmembrane receptor and ROR1 overexpression is associated with a poor prognosis in various cancers, including ovarian cancer. Targeting of ROR1 has been evaluated as a novel cancer therapy strategy. This study developed a novel chimeric anti-ROR1 Fab antibody (named ROR1-cFab) and then assessed the antitumor activity of this antibody in ovarian cancer cells, an in vitro model of preclinical cancer therapy. A ROR1-cFab prokaryotic expression vector was constructed from positive fusion cells (splenocytes from mice with high ROR1 immune titers were fused with myeloma cells) after three rounds of sub-clone affinity screening. Then, a variety of assays were employed to assess the binding selectivity and specificity of ROR1-cFab to ROR1 protein. Furthermore, CCK8, flow cytometric apoptosis, wound healing, and Transwell migration assays were used to assess antitumor activity of this newly developed anti-ROR1 antibody in ovarian cancer cells. We demonstrated that ROR1-cFab could specifically bind to ROR1 protein and ROR1-positive ovarian cancer A2780 cells. Functional assays revealed that ROR1-cFab inhibited tumor cell proliferation and migration, as well as inducing apoptosis of ROR1-positive A2780 cells in a dose dependent manner. These effects were not observed in ROR1-negative lose386 cells. In conclusion, ROR1-cFab is a novel anti-ROR1 antibody with a high affinity to ROR1 protein and inhibitory effects on ROR1-positive cells. Future studies will determine whether the ROR1-cFab might be a promising candidate for treatment of ROR1-positive ovarian cancer.

Author Info: (1) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (2) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (3) Department of Infectious Disease, Institute of Liver Disease, Nanjing Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing 210002, China. (4) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (5) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (6) Department of Traditional Chinese Internal Medicine, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200071, China. (7) Department of Nursing, Gaoyou People's Hospital, Yangzhou 225600, China. (8) Department of Pathology, Chinese Ministry of Health-designated Key Laboratory of Antibody Technology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China. (9) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (10) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210004, China. (11) Huadong Medical Institute of Biotechniques, Nanjing 210002, China.