Nanobodies®: proficient tools in diagnostics.
With the advent of new antibody engineering technologies, conventional antibodies have been minimized into smaller antibody formats. Small size is an important advantage for current and future diagnostic development. Nanobodies® (Ablynx) are among the smallest known antigen-binding antibody fragments, and are derived from the heavy-chain only antibodies that occur naturally in the serum of Camelidae. Endowed by natural evolution, these Nanobodies inherently exhibit unique biophysical, biochemical and pharmacological characteristics. In addition to their excellent potential as molecules in drug development, Nanobodies possess very attractive functional properties that aid in their development for diagnostic tools. Here we present several examples of currently available applications of Nanobodies to the field of immunosensor for cancer, immunoaffinity chromatography, in vivo and intracellular imaging.
Huang
Lieven
L
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Muyldermans
Serge
S
Saerens
Dirk
D
D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D002161:Camelids, New World; D006801:Humans; D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000378:metabolism
D000906:Antibodies; D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments; D015335:Molecular Probes