Catalytic antibodies and enzyme inhibitors

Catalytic antibodies and enzyme inhibitors

Catalytic antibodies or abzymes as we have termed them have generated an avalanche of "forecasts and predictions" concerning their future applications. This, because in principle their only limitations are the designer's creativity and one's ability to access the entire immune systems repertoire. Keeping these so-called predictions in mind, we have sought out a truly formidable test for our de ...

Potent enzyme inhibitors derived from dromedary heavy-chain antibodies.

Evidence is provided that dromedary heavy-chain antibodies, in vivo-matured in the absence of light chains, are a unique source of inhibitory antibodies. After immunization of a dromedary with bovine erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase and porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase, it was demonstrated that a considerable amount of heavy-chain antibodies, acting as true competitive inhibitors, circulate in th...

11 Catalytic Antibodies

Polyclonal catalytic antibodies.

Polyclonal catalytic antibodies offer advantages in the evaluation of immunogens and in the ease of production of large quantities of antibodies. They comprise the entire immune response of an animal to an immunogen where monoclonals represent a subset. Polyclonal antibodies are consequently particularly suitable for evaluating catalytic antibody responses generated by different haptens or a gr...

Passive and catalytic antibodies and drug delivery*

Antibodies are one of the most promising components of the biotechnology repertoire for the purpose of drug delivery. On the one hand, they are proven agents for cell-selective delivery of highly toxic agents in a small but expanding number of cases. This technology calls for the covalent attachment of the cytotoxin to a tumor-specific antibody by a linkage that is reversible under appropriate ...