"Biocad" expands the database
The most extensive database of human antibodies has been created in Russia
Julia Bondar, "Mednovosti"
The unique data warehouse contains more than 600 billion molecules, which were obtained from 1,758 donors. The project has been implemented by the biotech company BIOCAD since 2014.
This is the second library of human antibodies: earlier, researchers from BIOCAD presented the Meganlib Fab library to the world scientific community, which contains antibodies obtained from 1000 donors. Samples from both libraries can be used to create antibody-based drugs that can be used to treat oncological, autoimmune and other diseases.
Antibodies are special molecules of the immune system. They are able to recognize antigens – structures that are foreign to the body, from viruses or bacteria to individual molecules. A key feature of the antibody is the ability to recognize its target antigen from all those present in the body. This property of antibodies is used by scientists for targeted (directed) therapy of diseases.
Modern science is paying more and more attention to targeted therapies. Such therapy is impossible without extensive libraries with billions of genes of various antibodies that are potentially capable of binding foreign antigens. The developers of targeted therapy choose from a huge database only those few dozen antibodies that are able to bind the necessary antigens. The selection of the necessary antibodies is carried out by computers: every day artificial intelligence is able to test up to 100 thousand samples.
BIOCAD's libraries are not the only ones in the world, but at the moment they are the most extensive. There are synthetic libraries abroad, which contain samples of molecules synthesized from oligonucleotides, and immune libraries, where samples are collected, the basis for which was animal biomaterial. The most famous collections are from Pfizer and Medimmune (USA) and MorphoSys (Germany).
Libraries of living material are recognized as the most effective for the development of innovative medicines. They contain material obtained from donor samples taken from a person. The Russian company BIOCAD (CJSC "Biocad",) he has been creating exactly such repositories since 2012. The first project, Megan Lib, created in 2015, is currently the world's largest collection of monoclonal antibodies obtained from human donor samples. BIOCAD scientists started working on the creation of a new library in 2014. This time, the new library is an absolute record holder both in terms of the number of donors and the variety of antibodies.
"The use of the most diverse libraries of antibodies in combination with high-performance analysis techniques and optimization technologies using mathematical modeling allows us to accelerate the entry of drugs to the market, and, consequently, make cutting-edge therapy more accessible to patients. For example, antibodies from our Meganlib Fab library served to create BCD-100, a fully human antibody to the PD1 receptor. The new library is also already involved in the development of new drugs against oncological and autoimmune diseases," says Timofey Nemankin, Head of the antibody development Department at BIOCAD.
Advanced pharmaceutical companies today are focused on the development of drugs based on monoclonal antibodies. Despite the fact that these technologies are considered one of the most complex, they are also the most promising in terms of creating medicines of the future. In particular, such drugs are able to defeat cancer without total damage to the entire body. This is due to the fact that monoclonal antibodies fight exclusively against malignant neoplasms, without affecting nearby unaffected cells. "Smart" medicines are the most in–demand pharmaceutical innovations that millions of patients expect. After all, according to WHO statistics, cancer is the second cause of death in the world, about one in six people die from this disease.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 25.08.2017