Various CD7-targeting immunotoxins have been tested for its potential in treating CD7+ malignant patients but none of those immunotoxins was approved clinically because of lacking enough efficacy and safety. Here we successfully constructed the monovalent and bivalent CD7 nanobody-based immunotoxins PG001 and PG002, both conjugated with a truncated derivative of Pseudomonas exotoxin A respectiv...

The in vivo cutaneous nerve regeneration model using capsaicin is applied extensively to study the regenerative mechanisms and therapeutic efficacy of disease modifying molecules for small fiber neuropathy (SFN). Since mismatches between functional and morphological nerve fiber recovery are described for this model, we aimed at determining the capability of the capsaicin model to truly mimic th...

Despite recent progress in advanced melanoma therapy, identification of signalling pathways involved in melanoma switch from proliferative to invasive states is still crucial to uncover new therapeutic targets for improving the outcome of metastatic disease. Neuropilin-1 (NRP-1), a co-receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) tyrosine kinase receptors (VEGFRs), has been suggest...

To evaluate bladder function recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) in response to a combination treatment of an acutely administered AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist and delayed transplantation of neuronal precursors. Female rats received a contusion injury at T8/9. The AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist NBQX was directly administered into the lesion site immediately after injury. Nine days pos...

Exploiting secretory pathways for production of heterologous proteins is highly advantageous with respect to efficient downstream processing. In eukaryotic systems the vast majority of heterologous proteins for biotechnological application is exported via the canonical endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi pathway. In the endomembrane system target proteins are often glycosylated and may thus be modified...

Trypanosomes are protozoan parasites that cause diseases in humans and livestock for which no vaccines are available. Disease eradication requires sensitive diagnostic tools and efficient treatment strategies. Immunodiagnostics based on antigen detection are preferable to antibody detection because the latter cannot differentiate between active infection and cure. Classical monoclonal antibodie...

The dual-targeting ability of a variety of proteins from Physcomitrella patens, rice (Oryza sativa), and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was tested to determine when dual targeting arose and to what extent it was conserved in land plants. Overall, the targeting ability of over 80 different proteins from rice and P. patens, representing 42 dual-targeted proteins in Arabidopsis, was tested. We...

African trypanosomiasis is a deadly neglected disease caused by the extracellular parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Current therapies are characterized by high drug toxicity and increasing drug resistance mainly associated with loss-of-function mutations in the transporters involved in drug import. The introduction of new antiparasitic drugs into therapeutic use is a slow and expensive process. In c...

HIV-1 Rev is the key protein in the nucleocytoplasmic export and expression of the late viral mRNAs. An important aspect for its function is its ability to multimerize on these mRNAs. We have recently identified a llama single-domain antibody (Nb190) as the first inhibitor targeting the Rev multimerization function in cells. This nanobody is a potent intracellular antibody that efficiently inhi...

CD47 is an antiphagocytic ligand broadly expressed on normal and malignant tissues that delivers an inhibitory signal through the receptor signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPα). Inhibitors of the CD47-SIRPα interaction improve antitumor antibody responses by enhancing antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) in xenograft models. Endogenous expression of CD47 on a variety of cell types,...