Industrial and medical applications |
13 years after catalytic antibodies were introduced simultaneously by
Richard Lerner and
Peter Schultz, they are just beginning to achieve commercialization.
The first antibody to be commercialized is the abzyme with an aldolase activity developed in
the Lerner's group and sold by Aldrich Chemical Group.
A handful of firms, notably Med-Immune (Gaithersburg, MD, USA), Advanced Biotech Ltd. (Ariel, Israel)
and Prolifaron (San Diego, USA) are developing catalytic antibodies for commercialization,
along with researchers at The Scripps Research Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
and Columbia University (New York City).
The use of abzymes at industrial scale for specific synthesis of molecules is still at the laboratory step,
even if some firms like Novartis (Switzerland) or Bristol-Myer Squibb (USA) have shown their interest
for using the aldolase abzyme, produced in the Lerner's group, for synthesis of Epothilone A,
a new anti-cancer compound.
Different laboratories have also proposed to use catalytic antibodies for medical applications.
One application could concern the use of hydrolytic properties of abzymes to activate prodrugs.
By targeting this activity in the vicinity to tumor cells, prodrugs could be transformed into cytotoxic
compounds directly on tumor cells.
This anti-cancer therapy is designed as Antibody-Directed Abzyme
Prodrug Therapy (ADAPT): cf. figure n° 4.
Figure n°4 | |
Antibody-Directed | |
Abzyme Prodrug | Therapy |
(click on the picture | |
to see it on full screen). | |
Another example of medical application concerns antibodies
that specifically hydrolyze cocaine. A commercialization agreement between Columbia University and Ixsys
Inc. could allow to use abzymes for treating cocaine overdose
and addiction.
A third example is developed in Israel where
Advanced Biotech is producing catalytic antibodies for the treatment of gram-negative sepsis, targeting
the endotoxin LPS.
Finally, all researches aimed to produce antibodies with a sequence-specific protease activity could open new ways for anti-virus therapy and for the conception of new vaccines.