Introduction

The present invention refers to the field of antibodies and their application for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in oncology and other fields of medical sciences. In particular, these antibodies present the following advantages:

• they have a smaller size compared to intact IgG which make them more suitable for therapeutic and diagnostic applications;
• higher tumor-tissue penetration;
• higher efficacy without cardio-toxic side effects.

Technical features

The patent relates to anti-hERG1 molecules and their engineered derivatives comprising bispecific antibodies targeting both hERG1 and β1 integrin. Subject-matter of the present invention is a bispecfic antibody (bsAb) able to bind selectively the complex hERG1+ β1-integrin which is present only in tumor cells. bsAb showed the capacity in vitro of inhibiting tumor cell growth and migratory, pro-metastatic, activity on a panel of neoplastic cell lines.

Possible Applications

• Development of new drugs;
• Oncology;
• Companion diagnostics;
• Small antibody fragments as novel drugs in immunotherapy of cancer.

Advantages

• Tumor targeting;
• Precision medicine;
• Smaller size compared to intact IgG;
• No cardiotoxic side effects;
• Capacity to recognize the antigen in diagnostic procedures, such as IHC (immunohistochemistry).