Immunoconjugates with an intracellularly-cleavable linkage

1. A method of delivering a chemotherapeutic moiety to a subject with an infection or an infectious lesion, comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of an immunoconjugate comprising:

(a) an antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment, wherein said antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof binds to a pathogen selected from the group consisting of a bacterium, a fungus, a virus, rickettsia , a mycoplasm and a protozoan;

(b) a chemotherapeutic moiety; and

(c) a linker comprising (i) a thiol-reactive functional group that binds to a thiol group on the antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof, and (ii) a water-solubilizing moiety selected from the group consisting of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid (TTHA), benzyl-DTPA, 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N′,N″,N′″-tetraacetic acid (DOTA), benzyl-DOTA, 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N,N′,N″-triacetic acid (NOTA), benzyl-NOTA, 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-1,4,8,11-tetraacetic acid (TETA) and N,N′-dialkyl substituted piperazine,

wherein the chemotherapeutic moiety is attached to the linker via an intracellularly-cleavable moiety that is cleavable by intracellular esterases and comprises an ester formed from the α-carboxylic acid of an amino acid, and said thiol-reactive functional group is a maleimide or vinylsulfone which links to thiol groups of said antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said antibody is a chimeric, humanized or human monoclonal antibody.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said antibody is multivalent and/or multispecific.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said antibody fragment is selected from the group consisting of a Fab, a Fab′, an F(ab) 2 , an F(ab′) 2 and an scFv fragment.

5. A method of delivering a chemotherapeutic moiety to a subject with an infection or an infectious lesion, comprising administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of an immunoconjugate comprising:

(a) an antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment, wherein said antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment binds to a pathogen selected from the group consisting of a bacterium, a fungus, a virus, rickettsia , a mycoplasm and a protozoan;

(b) a chemotherapeutic moiety; and

(c) a linker comprising (i) a thiol-reactive functional group that binds to a thiol group on the antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof, and (ii) a water-solubilizing moiety selected from the group consisting of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid (TTHA), benzyl-DTPA, 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N′,N″,N′″-tetraacetic acid (DOTA), benzyl-DOTA, 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N,N′,N″-triacetic acid (NOTA), benzyl-NOTA, 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-1,4,8,11-tetraacetic acid (TETA) and N,N′-dialkyl substituted piperazine;

wherein said chemotherapeutic moiety is attached to said linker via an intracellularly-cleavable moiety that is cleavable by intracellular esterases and comprises an ester formed from the α-carboxylic acid of an amino acid; and said linker comprises a peptide comprising a thiol-reactive moiety at its N-terminus for linkage to the antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof and one or more side chain amino groups for linkage to at least one chemotherapeutic moiety.

6. A method of delivering a chemotherapeutic moiety to a subject with an infection or an infectious lesion, comprising administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of an immunoconjugate comprising:

a) an antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment, wherein the antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof binds to a pathogen selected from the group consisting of a bacterium, a fungus, a virus, rickettsia , a mycoplasm and a protozoan;

(b) a water soluble chemotherapeutic moiety; and

(c) a linker comprising a thiol-reactive functional group that binds to a thiol group on the antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof; wherein said chemotherapeutic moiety is attached to said linker via an intracellularly-cleavable moiety that is cleavable by intracellular esterases and comprises an ester formed from the α-carboxylic acid of an amino acid, and said linker contains an α-amino acid and is of the formula:

wherein R is an amino acid side chain, said amino acid selected from the group consisting of glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, serine, threonine, cysteine, methionine, asparagine, glutamine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, lysine, arginine, histidine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid; and wherein X is a chemotherapeutic moiety.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein said antibody or antigen-binding antibody fragment thereof binds to an antigen or epitope or iron-siderophore chelate receptor on said pathogen.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein said pathogen is selected from the group consisting of Streptococcus agalactiae, Legionella pneumophila, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, Pneumococcus, Hemophilus influenzae B, Treponema pallidum , Lyme disease spirochetes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium leprae, Brucella abortus, mycobacterium tuberculosis , rabies virus, influenza virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus I, herpes simplex virus II, human serum parvo-like virus, human immunodeficiency virus, respiratory syncytial virus, varicella-zoster virus, hepatitis B virus, measles virus, adenovirus, human T-cell leukemia viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, murine leukemia virus, mumps virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, sindbis virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, blue tongue virus, Sendai virus, feline leukemia virus, reo virus, polio virus, simian virus 40, mouse mammary tumor virus, dengue virus, rubella virus, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Toxoplasma gondii, Trypanosoma rangeli, Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma rhodesiensei, Trypanosoma brucei, Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma japonicum, Babesia bovis, Eimeria tenella, Onchocerca volvulus, Leishmania tropica, Trichinella spiralis, Theileria parva, Taenia hydatigena, Taenia ovis, Taenia saginata, Echinococcus granulosus, Mesocestoides corti, Mycoplasma arthritidis, Mycoplasma hyorhinis, Mycoplasma orale, Mycoplasma arginini, Acholeplasma laidlawii, Mycoplasma salivarium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae.