Issue 3, 2021

Nanobodies as in vivo, non-invasive, imaging agents

Abstract

In vivo imaging has become in recent years an incredible tool to study biological events and has found critical applications in diagnostic medicine. Although a lot of efforts and applications have been achieved using monoclonal antibodies, other types of delivery agents are being developed. Among them, VHHs, antigen binding fragments derived from camelid heavy chain–only antibodies, also known as nanobodies, have particularly attracted attention. Indeed, their stability, fast clearance, good tissue penetration, high solubility, simple cloning and recombinant production make them attractive targeting agents for imaging modalities such as PET, SPECT or Infra-Red. In this review, we discuss the pioneering work that has been carried out using VHHs and summarize the recent developments that have been made using nanobodies for in vivo, non-invasive, imaging.

Graphical abstract: Nanobodies as in vivo, non-invasive, imaging agents

Transparent peer review

To support increased transparency, we offer authors the option to publish the peer review history alongside their article.

View this article’s peer review history

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
03 Feb 2021
Accepted
02 Mär 2021
First published
08 Mär 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Chem. Biol., 2021,2, 685-701

Nanobodies as in vivo, non-invasive, imaging agents

T. J. Harmand, A. Islam, N. Pishesha and H. L. Ploegh, RSC Chem. Biol., 2021, 2, 685 DOI: 10.1039/D1CB00023C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements