title: Therapeutic antibody fragments with prolonged in vivo half-lives.
abstract: Antibody fragments can be isolated rapidly using techniques such as phage display and can be expressed to high levels in microbial systems. However, to date such antibody fragments have been of limited use for many therapeutic applications because they are rapidly cleared from the body. We present a strategy for the site-specific chemical modification of antibody fragments with polyethylene glycol, which results in the production of antibody fragments with long in vivo half-lives and full retention of antigen-binding properties. This technology should allow more rapid and economical production of therapeutic antibodies for chronic disease therapy.
authors.affiliation: Celltech Therapeutics, 216 Bath Rd., Slough, Berks SL1 4EN, UK. achapman@celltech.co.uk
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Antoniw
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spitali
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D006207:Half-Life; D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008297:Male; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols