A novel bivalent single-chain variable fragment (scFV) inhibitsthe action of tumour necrosis factor a

摘要

Suppression of TNFa (tumour necrosis factor a)activity is widely considered to be among the mostefficient treatments available for chronic inflammatorydiseases. Here, a bivalent scFv (single-chain variablefragment) fragment, named TNF-BAb, was engineeredby fusing two anti-TNFa scFV fragments in tandemvia a long and flexible linking peptide derived fromhuman serum albumin and produced in functionalform from Escherichia coil inclusion bodies. The bio-activity assays demonstrated that TNF-BAb gainedenormously in avidity and showed a much strongerability to inhibit the biological action of TNFa, indicat-ing that TNF-BAb may become a good candidate foranti-TNFa therapy.