A novel approach for antibody design utilizing structural biology

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19562
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Pathology, Infection/Immunology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Hashiguchi Takao 九州大学, 医学研究院, 准教授 (50632098)
• Research Collaborator: KURODA daisuke
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 抗体 / 感染症 / 構造生物学 / コンピュータ科学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Combining the techniques of Virology, Structural biology and Computer science, in this study, a novel approach for antibody design was attempted based on a viral antigen structure using computers.
Designed antibodies were successfully produced in one third of the total. Further, some produced antibodies could exhibit the binding ability to the target viral antigen. Although the improvement of the design system is still required, this method might have a potential to be a next generation approach for the antibody production.

Free Research Field

ウイルス学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

抗体は細胞/分子の単離・標識など生命現象を解明するための研究ツールや、疾患の診断・治療薬として非常に有用だが、標的分子に対して目的の機能・特異性を持つ抗体を取得することは容易ではない。従って、抗体作製のための新たな選択肢（技術）が求められている。そこで、本研究では新規抗体作製法として、抗原の立体構造情報に基づいて、抗原の望む部位へ自由自在に抗体をコンピュータ上で理論的に人工設計するシステム構築に挑戦した。