Affiliations: Department of Pharmacology, Chicago, IL, USA | Neurological Sciences Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA | Wadsworth Center, NY State Department of Health and Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Albany, Albany, NY, USA | Neural Stem Cell Institute, Regenerative Research Foundation, Rensselaer, NY, USA
Note: [] Correspondence to: Jeffrey H. Kordower, Ph.D. Dept. of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, 1735 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Tel.: +1 312 563 3585; Fax: +1 312 563 3571; Emails: Jeffrey_kordower@rush.edu; jkordowe@rush.edu
Abstract: Misfolded proteins and subsequent protein aggregation appears to underlie a significant fraction of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease. One of the neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease is the presence of α-syn containing intracellular inclusions known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. Intrabodies are antibody fragments that have been engineered to be expressed intracellularly. They can be directed towards specific target antigens present in various subcellular locations, and have shown promise in cancer, HIV, autoimmune diseases, and Huntington's disease. More recently they have been shown to modulate abnormalities caused by aggregated α-syn in cell culture. This mini-review mainly focuses on summarizing structural and cellular effects of intrabodies shown to have affinity for different forms of α-synuclein (monomeric, oligomeric and fibrillar), as well as those exhibiting affinity for particular residues of α-synuclein (e.g., the NAC region, C terminal region).
