Publications by authors named "Bryan D Fleming"

Neutralizing antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have shown a great preventative/therapeutic potential. Here, we report a rapid and efficient strategy for the development and design of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing humanized nanobody constructs with sub-nanomolar affinities and nanomolar potencies. CryoEM-based structural analysis of the nanobodies in complex with spike revealed two distinct binding modes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The discovery of single-domain antibodies has opened new avenues for drug development. Single-domain antibodies, also known as nanobodies, can access buried epitopes that are inaccessible to conventional antibodies. These antigen-binding domains have a high level of solubility and stability, which makes them well suited for therapeutic development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neutralizing antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have shown a great preventative/therapeutic potential. Here, we report a rapid and efficient strategy for the development and design of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing humanized nanobody constructs with sub-nanomolar affinities and nanomolar potencies. CryoEM-based structural analysis of the nanobodies in complex with spike revealed two distinct binding modes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for most liver cancers and represents one of the deadliest cancers in the world. Despite the global demand for liver cancer treatments, there remain few options available. The U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Treatment of hepatocellular carcinomas using our glypican-3 (GPC3)-targeting human nanobody (HN3) immunotoxins causes potent tumor regression by blocking protein synthesis and down-regulating the Wnt signaling pathway. However, immunogenicity and a short serum half-life may limit the ability of immunotoxins to transition to the clinic.

Approach And Results: To address these concerns, we engineered HN3-based immunotoxins to contain various deimmunized Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE) domains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Shark new antigen receptor variable domain (V) antibodies can bind restricted epitopes that may be inaccessible to conventional antibodies. Here, we developed a library construction method based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-Extension Assembly and Self-Ligation (named "EASeL") to construct a large V antibody library with a size of 1.2 × 10 from six naïve adult nurse sharks ().

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer, yet no effective therapeutics exist. This review provides an overview of the recent development of recombinant immunotoxins for the treatment of glypican-3 (GPC3) expressing HCC. GPC3 is a cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan that is overexpressed in HCC, but is absent from normal adult human tissues.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Loss-of-function mutations in the dysferlin gene (DYSF) result in a family of muscle disorders known collectively as the dysferlinopathies. Dysferlin-deficient muscle is characterized by inflammatory foci and macrophage infiltration with subsequent decline in muscle function. Whereas macrophages function to remove necrotic tissue in acute injury, their prevalence in chronic myopathy is thought to inhibit resolution of muscle regeneration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Macrophages readily change their phenotype in response to exogenous stimuli. In this work, macrophages were stimulated under a variety of experimental conditions, and phenotypic alterations were correlated with changes in gene expression. We identified 3 transcriptionally related populations of macrophages with immunoregulatory activity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Macrophages exhibit remarkable plasticity and can change their phenotype in response to different environmental cues. They can become activated to kill intracellular microbes or they can assume regulatory properties to modulate immune responses. Regulatory macrophages are fundamentally different from classically activated, and we propose from non-classically activated macrophages; they arise in response to different stimuli and perform different physiological functions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF