title: Multivalent display of single-domain antibodies.
abstract: Antigen-binding fragments, such as single-domain antibodies (sdAbs), can now be readily isolated by in vitro technologies. Antibody fragment libraries derived from immune or nonimmune sources are presented in a molecular display format, typically phage display, and binders to individual antigens are selected from the libraries by a so-called panning process. Nonimmune libraries can serve as sources of binders to a wide range of targets but yield antigen-binding fragments that generally have much lower affinities than those obtained from immune sources. Here we describe a strategy for constructing pentameric sdAbs termed pentabodies. Pentamerization introduces avidity which can greatly enhance the binding of low affinity sdAbs to antigens presented on surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Jianbing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: C Roger
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002161:Camelids, New World; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D061505:Cell Surface Display Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D015870:Gene Expression; D015723:Gene Library; D023061:Gene Order; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000276:immunology; D061905:Single-Domain Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D061905:Single-Domain Antibodies