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Review
. 2019 Oct 15;9(25):7772-7791.
doi: 10.7150/thno.34941. eCollection 2019.

Theranostics in immuno-oncology using nanobody derivatives

Quentin Lecocq  1 , Yannick De Vlaeminck  1 , Heleen Hanssens  2 , Matthias D'Huyvetter  2 , Geert Raes  3   4 , Cleo Goyvaerts  1 , Marleen Keyaerts  2   5 , Nick Devoogdt  2 , Karine Breckpot  1
Affiliations
Review

Theranostics in immuno-oncology using nanobody derivatives

Quentin Lecocq et al. Theranostics. .

Abstract

Targeted therapy and immunotherapy have become mainstream in cancer treatment. However, only patient subsets benefit from these expensive therapies, and often responses are short-lived or coincide with side effects. A growing modality in precision oncology is the development of theranostics, as this enables patient selection, treatment and monitoring. In this approach, labeled compounds and an imaging technology are used to diagnose patients and select the best treatment option, whereas for therapy, related compounds are used to target cancer cells or the tumor stroma. In this context, nanobodies and nanobody-directed therapeutics have gained interest. This interest stems from their high antigen specificity, small size, ease of labeling and engineering, allowing specific imaging and design of therapies targeting antigens on tumor cells, immune cells as well as proteins in the tumor environment. This review provides a comprehensive overview on the state-of-the-art regarding the use of nanobodies as theranostics, and their importance in the emerging field of personalized medicine.

Keywords: cancer; immunotherapy; molecular imaging; nanobody; single domain antibody.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graph showing the number of publications on the description of nanobodies in oncology during the period from 2004 to 2019.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A schematic representation of the differences between a conventional antibody (a) and a HCAb (b). The antigen-binding domain from the HCAb is referred to as a VHH, nanobody or sdAb (c).
Figure 3
Figure 3
PET/CT scans (top) and PET scans (bottom) after injection of 68Ga-HER2-Nanobody showing uptake in primary breast carcinoma lesions (arrows) (A-C) and metastatic lesions in lymph nodes in mediastinum and left hilar region (D) and bone metastasis in pelvis (E). Adapted with permission from , copyright 2016.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic representation of the use of nanobodies and nanobody-derivatives for targeting of cancer cells and blood endothelial cells or for modulation of immune cells that can either activate (APCs, including DCs and type 1 macrophages), exert (cytolytic immune cells, including NK cells and CTLs) or suppress (type 2 macrophages and Tregs) antitumor immune responses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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