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Therapeutic Proteins pp 103–126Cite as

Engineering of Affibody Molecules for Therapy and Diagnostics

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 899))

Abstract

Affibody molecules are small and robust non-immunoglobulin affinity ligands capable of binding to a wide range of protein targets. They are selected from combinatorial libraries based on a 58 amino acid, three-alpha-helical Z-domain scaffold. They share no sequence or structural homologies to antibodies and in contrast to antibodies they can be functionally produced both by peptide synthesis and by recombinant expression in Escherichia coli. Protein engineering is used to adapt Affibody molecules binding to a target of interest to the specific demands imposed by the intended application. Obviously, the optimal molecule for molecular imaging will be different from the optimal molecule for therapy. Here, we describe general strategies to optimize Affibody molecules for diagnostic imaging and therapy applications.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Anders Wennborg for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Affibody AB, Solna, Sweden

    Joachim Feldwisch

  2. Rudbeck Laboratory, Division of Biomedical Radiation Sciences, Department of Radiology, Oncology, and Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Vladimir Tolmachev

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  1. Joachim Feldwisch
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  2. Vladimir Tolmachev
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Correspondence to Joachim Feldwisch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. MedImmune, LLC, MedImmune Way One, Gaithersburg, 20878, USA

    Vladimir Voynov

  2. , Department of Physical Biochemistry, Biogen Idec, Cambridge Center 14, Cambridge, 02142, Massachusetts, USA

    Justin A. Caravella

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Feldwisch, J., Tolmachev, V. (2012). Engineering of Affibody Molecules for Therapy and Diagnostics. In: Voynov, V., Caravella, J. (eds) Therapeutic Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 899. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-921-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-921-1_7

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