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Infectious diseases

Two-hit antibody tackles bacteria

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 14, page 15 (2015)Cite this article

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P. aeruginosa is a principal cause of hospital-acquired pneumonia and of chronic lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. Its large genome and complex regulatory networks provide this pathogen with a substantial capacity to adapt to environmental challenges, such as antibiotics, making effective treatment of infections particularly difficult.

Antibodies against single P. aeruginosa epitopes have been investigated but have not shown sufficient protective activity. In the hope that targeting two epitopes could be more successful, in the current study, the authors used a mAb that targets PcrV — a component of a P. aeruginosa system for the secretion of virulence factors. Into this antibody they genetically inserted a single-chain variable fragment of a mAb that binds to Psl — an extracellular polysaccharide expressed by the pathogen that is involved in immune evasion and biofilm formation.

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References

  1. DiGiandomenico, A. et al. A multifunctional bispecific antibody protects against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Sci. Transl. Med. 6, 262ra155 (2014)

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  1. Katie Kingwell
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Garber, K. Bispecific antibodies rise again. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 13, 799–801 (2014)

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Kingwell, K. Two-hit antibody tackles bacteria. Nat Rev Drug Discov 14, 15 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4525

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