{"id":7003,"date":"2021-07-06T15:21:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T14:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/?p=7003"},"modified":"2021-07-13T18:47:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T17:47:46","slug":"a-to-z-of-alternative-antibody-formats-next-generation-therapeutics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/a-to-z-of-alternative-antibody-formats-next-generation-therapeutics\/","title":{"rendered":"A to Z of Alternative Antibody Formats: Next-Generation Therapeutics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you know your diabodies from your zybodies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antibodies are a highly important class of therapeutics used to treat a range of diseases. Given their success as therapeutics, a wide variety of alternative antibody formats have been developed \u2013 these are driving the next generation of antibody therapeutics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To note, this is not an exhaustive list but rather intended to demonstrate the range of existing antibody formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by this article in The Guardian: “Rachel Roddy\u2019s A-Z of pasta<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Figure 1. Alternative Antibody Formats<\/em>
Many of these figures were adapted from\u00a0Spiess\u00a0et al., 2015. Additionally, some of these formats have multiple variations or further possible forms (e.g.,\u00a0trispecific\u00a0antibodies) \u2013\u00a0in these cases, one example is given here.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A \u2013 Antibodies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antibodies<\/em> \u2013 a fitting place to start this post. Antibodies are proteins produced by our immune systems to detect and protect against foreign pathogens. The ability of antibodies to bind molecules strongly and specifically \u2013 properties essential to their role in our immune defence \u2013 also make them valuable candidates for therapeutics. Antibody therapies have been developed for the treatment of various diseases, including cancers and viruses, and form a market estimated at over $100 billion1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Antibodies are comprised of a heavy chain and a light chain, forming a Y-shaped protein. Target (antigen) binding is mediated by 3 complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) on the variable domains of each chain. Traditional antibodies are symmetric, binding the same epitope with each ‘arm’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

B \u2013 Bispecific antibodies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B is for bispecific antibodies<\/em> (BsAbs), a large class of alternative antibody formats, which are receiving substantial attention and progressing in the clinical pipeline. BsAbs are able to bind to two different target sites (epitopes), either two antigens or two epitopes on one antigen. There are a large number (>60) of different formats of BsAbs2<\/sup>, which will make up many of the entries in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n