Panspecific antibodies: Novimmune successful in multiple specificities

21-Apr-2009 - Switzerland

NovImmune announced the description of a single antibody engineered for double antigen binding specificity involving chemokines as targets. The work was accepted for publication in mAbs.

Antibodies are designed by nature to bind to epitopes on pathogens with high capacity through a unique one binding specificity mechanism. However, with current molecular biology know how, a team of scientists at NovImmune succeeded in rationally inventing an antibody with two specificities within the one antibody binding site paradigm.

According to NovImmune, this novel antibody engineering approach will open future avenues for the design of panspecific therapeutic antibodies, that is, antibodies with a binding site that is rationally designed to have multiple intrinsic binding specificities. The experimental strategy, taken by the NovImmune team, could be potentially expanded to apply wherever there is a therapeutic rationale to simultaneously modulate the activity of two target proteins or epitopes. The benefit of hitting two birds with one stone is to create synergistic therapeutic effects with, for example, redundant biological pathways (chemokines) or two non-overlapping epitopes (aggregating tumor specific antigens).

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Topic world Antibodies

Antibodies are specialized molecules of our immune system that can specifically recognize and neutralize pathogens or foreign substances. Antibody research in biotech and pharma has recognized this natural defense potential and is working intensively to make it therapeutically useful. From monoclonal antibodies used against cancer or autoimmune diseases to antibody-drug conjugates that specifically transport drugs to disease cells - the possibilities are enormous

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Topic world Antibodies

Antibodies are specialized molecules of our immune system that can specifically recognize and neutralize pathogens or foreign substances. Antibody research in biotech and pharma has recognized this natural defense potential and is working intensively to make it therapeutically useful. From monoclonal antibodies used against cancer or autoimmune diseases to antibody-drug conjugates that specifically transport drugs to disease cells - the possibilities are enormous