Peptide-based protein capture agents with high affinity, selectivity, and stability as antibody replacements

Abstract

Current biodetection assays that employ monoclonal antibodies as primary capture agents exhibit limited fieldability, shelf life, and performance due to batch-to-batch prodn. variability and restricted thermal stability. In order to improve upon the detection of biol. threats in fieldable assays and systems for the Army, we are investigating protein catalyzed capture (PCC) agents as drop-in replacements for the existing antibody technol. through iterative in situ click chem. The PCC agent oligopeptides are developed against known protein epitopes and can be mass produced using robotic methods. In this work, a PCC agent under development will be discussed. The performance, including affinity, selectivity, and stability of the capture agent technol., is analyzed by immunopptn., western blotting, and ELISA expts. The oligopeptide demonstrates superb selectivity coupled with high affinity through multi-ligand design, and improved thermal, chem., and biochem. stability due to non-natural amino acid PCC agent design.