A new expression vector facilitating production and functional analysis of scFv antibody fragments selected from Tomlinson I+J phagemid libraries.

Tomlinson I+J are synthetic phagemid human scFv libraries widely employed to obtain specific antibody fragments via a phage display method. The pIT2/HB2151 expression system proposed by the designers of the libraries has certain drawbacks which result in the lack of expression or low expression levels of numerous soluble scFvs. At the stage of scFv screening, this may lead to losing some excellent antibodies, which can be avoided but requires laborious and expensive work.

Apoptins: selective anticancer agents.

Therapies that selectively target cancer cells for death have been the center of intense research recently. One potential therapy may involve apoptin proteins, which are able to induce apoptosis in cancer cells leaving normal cells unharmed. Apoptin was originally discovered in the Chicken anemia virus (CAV); however, human gyroviruses (HGyV) have recently been found that also harbor apoptin-like proteins.

Salmonella and cancer: from pathogens to therapeutics.

Bacterial cancer therapy is a concept more than 100 years old - yet, all things considered, it is still in early development. While the use of many passive therapeutics is hindered by the complexity of tumor biology, bacteria offer unique features that can overcome these limitations. Microbial metabolism, motility and sensitivity can lead to site-specific treatment, highly focused on the tumor and safe to other tissues.