MuSK antibodies differently affect the MuSK signaling cascade depending on valency and epitope specificity

Abstract

Muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) is a pivotal player in forming and maintaining healthy neuromuscular junctions (NMJ). In MuSK myasthenia gravis (MG), autoantibodies targeting MuSK disrupt its function, impairing neuromuscular transmission and causing fatigable skeletal muscle weakness. MuSK autoantibodies predominantly belong to the IgG4 subclass, which bind in a monovalent fashion due to Fab-arm exchange, although autoantibodies of other subclasses also exist. Polyclonal autoreactive IgG from patients may therefore harbor a variety of monovalent and bivalent MuSK antibodies with potentially distinct effects on MuSK signaling. To further unravel the pathomechanisms underlying MuSK MG, we have investigated how MuSK antibody-binding affects MuSK functioning with a diverse panel of (patient-derived) monoclonal MuSK antibodies. Our findings reveal that the valency of antibody-binding influences binding kinetics to MuSK, inhibition of agrin-induced MuSK activation, Dok7 binding to MuSK and NMJ gene expression. Monovalent binding to the frizzled domain of MuSK did not inhibit agrin-induced MuSK activation, while monovalent binding to the Ig-like domain 1 does. Moreover, the kinetics of Dok7 degradation induced by bivalent MuSK antibodies appear to depend on binding-epitope of MuSK. Surprisingly, none of the clones tested (both bivalent and monovalent) increased MuSK internalization. Taken together, the cumulative pathogenic effect of polyclonal MuSK antibodies in individual MuSK MG patients thus likely depends on autoantibody titer, affinity and the unique composition of MuSK autoantibodies varying in epitope and valency. This research enriches our understanding of the intricate interactions between antibodies and MuSK in MuSK MG and offers potential insights into novel therapeutic strategies using MuSK antibodies.