BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Avidex: T cells to therapeutics

July 21, 2003 7:00 AM UTC

Similar to companies trying to use soluble forms of antigen-specific B cell receptors - a.k.a. antibodies - as therapeutics, Avidex Ltd. is trying to employ the T cell receptor as a therapeutic. The company has recently made the final technology advance that it believes was required to make TCRs therapeutically feasible, by increasing their affinity to resemble that of therapeutic antibodies.

Like their B cell counterparts, TCRs are specific for defined antigens. However, a TCR will bind its cognate peptide only if the peptide is complexed with a specific HLA molecule, while antibodies bind antigens independent of any accessory molecules. ...