In vivo imaging with antibodies and engineered fragments

• Published in: Molecular immunology Vol. 67; no. 2; pp. 142 - 152
• Main Authors: Freise, Amanda C., Wu, Anna M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies - chemistry; Antibodies - immunology; Antibody fragments; Diagnostic Imaging - methods; Diagnostic Imaging - trends; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; Humans; Image-guided surgery; Immunoglobulin Fragments - chemistry; Immunoglobulin Fragments - immunology; ImmunoPET; Models, Immunological; Molecular imaging; Neoplasms - diagnosis; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - therapy; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Molecular imaging; ImmunoPET; Image-guided surgery; Antibody fragments
• ISSN: 0161-5890; 1872-9142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2015.04.001

•Antibodies’ exquisite specificity enables targeted imaging of single biomarkers and cell types.•Antibody-based imaging has proven successful in multiple preclinical models.•Success with antibodies as therapeutics makes them highly translatable as imaging agents.•Non-invasive, whole-body imaging is becoming a critical tool in the study of immunology. Antibodies have clearly demonstrated their utility as therapeutics, providing highly selective and effective drugs to treat diseases in oncology, hematology, cardiology, immunology and autoimmunity, and infectious diseases. More recently, a pressing need for equally specific and targeted imaging agents for assessing disease in vivo, in preclinical models and patients, has emerged. This review summarizes strategies for developing and optimizing antibodies as targeted probes for use in non-invasive imaging using radioactive, optical, magnetic resonance, and ultrasound approaches. Recent advances in engineered antibody fragments and scaffolds, conjugation and labeling methods, and multimodality probes are highlighted. Importantly, antibody-based imaging probes are seeing new applications in detection and quantitation of cell surface biomarkers, imaging specific responses to targeted therapies, and monitoring immune responses in oncology and other diseases. Antibody-based imaging will provide essential tools to facilitate the transition to truly precision medicine.