Stop the no. 1 elephant killer!

22 June 2022 Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV) is the most common cause of death among young elephants. To aid the development of new detection agents and therapeutic intervention strategies, QVQ will contribute its lead-development to the crowdfunding project “Stop the no. 1 elephant killer!” lead by Utrecht University professors Victor Rutten and Xander de Haan. Link

VHH-Fc fusion constructs show enhanced potency in blocking HIV

22 June 2022 Congrats to our Target2Cure collaborators, among which PhD student Angela Schriek and under the supervision of Marit van Gils and Steven de Taeye (AUMC) for having published a nice study in Frontiers in Immunology.  Schriek et al. describe the development of QVQ’s anti-HIV-1 single domain antibody products Q1 (J3), Q8 (2E7) and (Q9) 1F10 into various multivalent and Fc-fused constructs. This showed increased binding to the HIV-1 envelope and enhanced neutralization potency. In addition, fusion of an IgG1 domain to J3 improved neutralization potency compared to the J3-bihead and restored Fc-mediated effector functions. Due to their neutralization breadth, potency and ability to induce effector functions, these nanobody-IgG1 constructs may prove to be valuable towards alternative HIV-1 therapies. … Read more

Vimentin for cancer therapy

22 June 2022 Congrats to the team lead by professor Arjan Griffioen for their excellent study on targeting extracellular vimentin for cancer therapy. Link This study also features our anti-vimentin product Q60c, a single domain antibody that suits well for detection and microscopy.

OAinject; in action against Arthritis

30 May 2022 More than 1.5 million Dutch people suffer from osteoarthritis – a rheumatic disease of the joints that causes pain, stiffness and difficulty in moving. Since osteoarthritis is a condition that mainly occurs to elderly people, the number of patients will increase due to aging of the population. Currently there is no adequate treatment. The OAinject program is developing new diagnostic tools to determine the exact type of osteoarthritis someone has, in order to enable tailor-made treatments. In addition, the researchers are working on innovative ways to administer medicines in the joints over a longer period of time, gradually, as well as locally via a depot. In this way, the consortium wants to ensure that rheumatic patients can … Read more