Engineered antibody fragments for the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease

Funded Activity Summary

We plan to investigate the use of genetically-engineered antibody fragments in the diagnosis and treatment of clinically-important human eye diseases. The work will be carried out in experimental models, but the goal is to develop a new class of drugs that will be widely applicable in human inflammatory eye disease and eye infections. Antibodies are natural proteins, found in blood and body secretions, that protect humans from infections. However, they can be made in the laboratory and monoclonal antibodies in particular - those with a single defined specificity - have found widespread use in many medical applications. For the past 15 years, monoclonal antibodies have been used therapeutically, that is, they have been administered to humans to treat some diseases. Antibodies are big proteins that have multiple functions. Their very size and the multiplicity of their actions prevent their use in some therapeutic situations. In recent years, advances in genetic engineering and biotechnology have developed to the extent that small fragments of monoclonal antibodies can be produced in the laboratory with relative ease. Such fragments should have very substantial advantages over intact antibodies in the diagnosis and treatment of human eye disease. Engineered antibody fragments hold enormous potential for ophthalmic use, especially if they can be administered topically as eye-drops. In this project, we aim to determine whether antibody fragments can be used in the diagnosis and the treatment of four potentially blinding conditions: acute anterior uveitis and corneal graft rejection, which are inflammatory eye diseases, and herpetic keratitis and Acanthamoeba keratitis, which are eye infections.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $196,886.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Opthalmology And Vision Science

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Acanthamoeba keratitis | Acute anterior uveitis | Corneal graft rejection | Engineered scFv antibody fragments | Experimental models of eye disease | Herpetic keratitis | Inflammatory and infectious eye disease | Treatment and diagnosis | Visual impairment

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