TITLE:
Antibody fragments: Prolonging circulation half-life special issue-antibody research
AUTHORS:
Annabelle Patricia Herrington-Symes, Monika Farys, Hanieh Khalili, Steve Brocchini
KEYWORDS:
Antibody Fragment; Half-Life Extension; PEGylation; Fc Fusion
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: Antibodies are currently the fastest growing class of
therapeutic proteins. When antibody fragments are included, there are over
thirty-five antibody-based medicines approved for human therapy. Many more
antibody and antibody-like fragments are being evaluated clinically.
Production of antibody fragments can be efficient and their compact size can
allows for better tissue extravasation into solid tumors than full antibodies.
Unfortunately, a key limitation of antibody fragments for systemic use is
their short half-life in circulation. Prolonging their circulation half-life
can be accomplished clinically by the covalent conjugation of the antibody
fragment to the water-soluble polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Many polymers
and strategies are also being pursued to increase antibody fragment half-life.