Nanobodies

Dear Colleagues,

The discovery of heavy chain-only antibodies in sera from camelids, nurse sharks and some other exotic species has initiated large research efforts in the field of antibody engineering. The antigen-binding fragments of these antibodies can be easily cloned and expressed as small single domain antibodies (called Nanobodies® by Ablynx [1]) with binding properties similar to that of the originating antibody. The advantages of high water solubility, thermostability, favorable pharmacokinetics, low immunogenicity in humans, ease of library generation for selection purposes and possibilities for relatively cheap expression in E. coli or yeast make single domain antibodies highly interesting emerging alternatives to conventional antibodies.

This special issue on Nanobodies will consider contributions in the field of nanobody discovery, expression, modification and conjugation technologies. In particular, we invite contributions that deal with in vivo applications of therapeutic and/or diagnostic nanobodies for disease.

Dr. William Leenders
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Koch-Nolte
Guest Editors

[1] Gibbs, W.W. Nanobodies. Scientific American Magazine. August 2005. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nanobodies/.

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