Using this technology platform, Abzyme develops various types of antibodies including, but not limited to camelid and human single domain antibodies, human ScFv and full human IgG.
"Filing this application is very important milestone for Abzyme Therapeutics.
To make an abzyme that specifically cleaves phenylacetate, the researchers obtained antibodies that bind to another longer-lived molecule that is similar in form to phenylacetate's fleeting transition-state.
Since all antibodies are structurally similar, the scientists expect that their success at getting the phenylacetate-cleaving abzyme to work in a reverse micelle will extend to other abzymes.
Since then, scientists have designed many catalytic antibodies, known also as abzymes. Each is tailor-made to do a specific chemical job, such as slicing one molecule in two or splicing two molecules into one.
Not surprisingly, based on the fact that
abzymes are slow catalysts as compared to the kinetic values determined for conventional DNases, the reaction turnover values for DNA-abzymes were two times lower (40).
Dismissing the claims of a few scientists, Lerner for years answered that there was no compelling evidence to support the existence of natural
abzymes.
* The variety of catalytic antibodies, or "
abzymes," grew as chemists developed clever techniques for making and improving them (135: 28, 252; 136: 152).
So far, scientists have designed most catalytic antibodies (called
abzymes by some) using the principle of transitionstate stabilization formulated by Linus Pauling.
But Lerner says he will be able to design enzymatic antbodies, or "
abzymes," that perform a range of chemical job such as making and breaking specific bonds between the amino acids that make up proteins.