CD Laboratory for Innovative Immunotherapeutics

Antibody-based therapeutics are among the beacons of hope in the fight against many difficult-to-treat diseases. Biochemical processes are being used to develop novel molecules with increased biological efficacy.

Antibodies and antibody-based active substances use the immune system's ability to distinguish diseased cells, e.g. tumour cells or viruses, from the body's own healthy cells and cause them to die in a targeted manner. Novel processes make it possible to equip these antibodies with additional biological mechanisms of action. The intensity with which the research, development and optimisation of such molecules is being carried out today demonstrates the great potential that is attributed to these therapeutics. The first such molecules are currently undergoing clinical trials or have already been authorised for clinical use.

The aim of the CD Laboratory's research is to engineer antibody-based molecules with optimised biological properties. Engineering refers to the design and production of biological molecules equipped with specific properties so that, for example, therapeutic antibodies are no longer attacked by the human body. Antibody engineering requires a comprehensive and integrated scientific and technological approach. As a basis for the planned work, the first step is to create novel libraries of antibodies and antibody fragments as a source of valuable binding molecules. Building on this, computer-aided molecular modelling will be used to design molecules with novel architectures that can not only specifically recognise and bind diseased target cells, but are also enhanced with novel positions. Such positions can be achieved, for example, by coupling antibodies with cytostatic drugs and thus transporting toxic substances precisely to the tumour cells and making them effective there. Other mechanisms can be used to increase their specificity. Miniaturised immunoglobulin formats make it possible to recruit other arms of the immune system that cannot be activated naturally by antibodies.

These new molecules are screened for their binding properties or catalytic activity in suitable display systems - systems for recognising and evolving the binding properties and catalytic activity of proteins and peptides - selected and then produced in the required quality and quantity using suitable expression systems - biological systems for targeted and controlled protein biosynthesis. The detailed characterisation and optimisation of the structural and physicochemical features leads to molecules whose biological properties are subsequently tested and validated first in vitro and then in vivo.

This research work is making a significant contribution to solving the major health challenges of our time by developing novel active substances for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases, to name just the most important diseases.