There are many ways single domain antibodies (sdAbs) — also known as Nanobodies™, VHH antibodies, and camelid antibodies are superior to conventional antibodies. Read on to find out how these unique antibodies can enhance your research.

The Advantages of Single Domain Antibodies

Conventional antibodies such as monoclonal (mAb) and polyclonal (pAb) antibodies have been at the forefront of biomedical research, being used for diagnostic assay development, and recently for therapies against cancer, immune disorders, and infectious diseases. The market for antibodies is growing significantly as the need for these tools is ever-increasing to fight the battle between disease and human health.

Limitations of Conventional Antibodies

For decades, conventional antibodies have served as the foundation for highly successful research, diagnostics, and therapeutic tools. They have advanced discoveries in many areas but have limitations in applications that require stability over a wide pH, sustained high temperatures, or due to their size they may not be able to access particular active sites or epitopes of interest on proteins.

These disadvantages might not hinder your research results, but a smaller-sized single domain antibody can increase therapeutic efficacy.

A study from the Annals of Medicine, about the challenges in monoclonal antibody-based therapies, pointed out how the current manufacturing and purification processes of monoclonal antibodies cause limitations in the production capacity of therapeutic antibodies, which leads to an increase in cost (1).

In a study by Vanlandschoot et al. (2), the advantages of sdAbs were reviewed in relation to their possible therapeutic applications against various viral diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1), influenza A virus, reparatory syncytial virus (RSV), are discussed. View here. Such studies culminated in the first FDA-approved sdAb against von Willebrand factor to treat the blood disease Acquired Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (3).

How Single Domain Antibodies Can Help

Single domain antibodies from camelids aim to be a cutting-edge tool for antibody research in cellular mechanisms, cancer, and infectious diseases. Single domain antibodies lack light chains and are smaller and more stable than conventional antibodies, yet they possess a fully functional antigen-binding capacity. Due to their size (approximately 15 kDa) and their longer and structurally unique Complementary Determining Region 3 (CDR3 region), a single domain antibody is adept at reaching otherwise inaccessible unique conformational features on targets that may play a crucial role in the molecular mechanisms of disease.

Single domain antibodies can help excel your research:

• Smallest functional antibody unit at ~15kDa vs. conventional antibodies at ~150kDa
• Enhanced tissue penetration
• Epitope specific recognition and unique binding capacity to small cavities or clefts
• High affinity and specificity
• Unique physical properties can lead to increased stability under extreme temperature and pH, as well as increased solubility
• Cost-effective, large-scale production
• Bivalent and trivalent designs are possible

The unique properties of size, stability and solubility for a single domain antibody allow breakthroughs in the field of cancer research, drug development, and other life-saving therapies.

Enhance your Research with ProSci

ProSci offers Single Domain Antibody Services from Immunization to Production. Throughout all six phases (from immunization to production), single domain integrity is ensured with various milestones and an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction. If your application calls for single domain antibodies, partner with ProSci and research with confidence.

Download the single domain antibodies brochure and listen in on the single domain antibody video from ProSci and Biotechniques. These resources give you insight on what a single domain antibody is and how they are becoming hot tools in the field of infectious disease research.

Hear from two experts in the field of single domain antibody development and production, Andy Lee, Lead Scientist of the Single Domain Antibody Program at ProSci Incorporated, and David Eling, Director of Business Development at ProSci Incorporated, on how these unique antibodies are produced and how they are advancing discoveries in research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. Listen to the podcast here.

Products Now Available

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ProSci developed antibodies against the S1 and S2 subunits of spike protein as well as trimers of the wild type SARS-CoV-2 virus and other Variants of Concern.

ProSci SARS-CoV-2 Spike Single Domain Antibodies

ProSci also provides sdAbs against immune checkpoint targets such as PD-L1, PD-1, LAG3, and TIGIT. Explore the range of ProSci Immune Checkpoint Single Domain Antibodies.

ProSci has earned the trust of both private and public research sectors, working in a variety of research applications – therapeutic, general research, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and many more.

Contact us today to discuss your next project!

References

1. Samaranayake, H., Wirth, T., Schenkwein, D., Räty, J. K., & Ylä-Herttuala, S. (2009). Challenges in monoclonal antibody-based therapies. In Annals of Medicine (Vol. 41, Issue 5, pp. 322–331). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890802698842
2. Vanlandschoot, P., Stortelers, C., Beirnaert, E., Ibañez, L. I., Schepens, B., Depla, E., & Saelens, X. (2011). Nanobodies®: New ammunition to battle viruses. In Antiviral Research (Vol. 92, Issue 3, pp. 389–407). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2011.09.002
3. Scully, M., Cataland, S.R.,  Peyvandi, F., Coppo, P., Knöbl, P., Kremer Hovinga, J.A., Metjian, A., de la Rubia, J., Pavenski, K., Callewaert, F., Biswas, D., De Winter, H. and Zeldin, R.K. for the HERCULES Investigators. (2020). Caplacizumab Treatment for Acquired Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30625070/
4. Liu Hao, Liu Yanli, Zhao Zhen, Li Yuanke, Mustafa Bahaa, Chen Zhijin, Barve Ashutosh, Jain Akshay, Yao Xiaolan, Li Guangfu, Cheng Kun. (2022). Discovery of Anti-PD-L1 Human Domain Antibodies for Cancer Immunotherapy. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2022.838966
5. Pothin E, Lesuisse D, Lafaye P. Brain Delivery of Single-Domain Antibodies: A Focus on VHH and VNAR. Pharmaceutics. 2020;12(10):937. Published 2020 Sep 30. doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics12100937
6. Gonzalez-Sapienza Gualberto, Rossotti Martín A., Tabares-da Rosa Sofía. (2017) Single-Domain Antibodies As Versatile Affinity Reagents for Analytical and Diagnostic Applications. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00977