Engineering of a Nano-Antibody to increase its stability towards proteases

Inflammatory lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) are among the main causes of death worldwide every year. One of many factors characterizing the pathophysiology of these diseases is the unbalance between proteases and their physiological inhibitors, which contributes to establishing a chronic inflammation and results in damages at the level of the tissues. An interesting and promising tool for the inhibition of serine proteases is represented by the antigen-binding variable domain of heavy chain antibodies (VHH). Hereby we present the engineering process of an inhibitory VHH to improve its stability towards proteases.