With a goal to provide early stage detection of cancer using human imaging, QVQ in The Netherlands is developing pre-clinical techniques combining a small, high affinity single domain antibody fragment (VHH) from camelids with a novel near-infrared dye from Nebraska-based LI-COR Biosciences.
“VHH directed against growth factor receptors are excellent tools for cancer research and diagnostic applications,” says Prof Theo Verrips, QVQ chief executive officer. “Due to the small size of the VHH, they distribute deeply and evenly throughout solid tumor, where larger antibodies only reach the boundaries of the solid tumor.”
Combined with the LI-COR IRDye infrared dye technology, the QVQ research seeks to provide improved delineation of cancer tissue from surrounding, healthy tissue in patients. “Conventional antibodies have a long uptake in humans resulting in a several day wait and less contrast before imaging is possible while VHH are cleared extremely fast leading to the potential for same ...
