Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Epitope Binning
Epitope binning is an important part of developing new potential drug candidates. Whether the pharmaceutical industry creates new vaccines or diagnostic tools, epitope binning is helpful in utilizing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, which are more popularly known as mAb. When developing new drugs, it is crucial to identify the way mAbs bind to target proteins, and this is where epitope binning plays a role. Here’s everything that you need to know about epitope binning.
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What Is Epitope Binning
Epitope binning is a process that involves the testing of antibodies. It characterizes mAb such that the ones that compete to bind in the same region of a target protein are grouped in a single category, thus helping in creating various such categories for different binding regions. The process, called epitope binning sandwich assay, involves the saturation of an antigen with the help of a mAb analyte solution. And this saturated antigen is then tested to see how it binds to an immobilized mAb. This generates binding responses, and then a comparison of the binning responses for the antigen is made.
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Why Is It Needed?
Epitope binning can help in selecting the ideal candidate out of numerous leads, which decides whether or not the clinical trial will be a success or a failure. When a certain group of mAbs shares a binding region on a protein, this indicates that these mAbs also share certain functional characteristics. Likewise, when functional activities are indicated across various bins after epitope binning, it means there might be multiple action mechanisms. And these findings can help in creating therapies for infectious diseases or a certain type of cancer that is a matter of concern when testing the mAbs.
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How To Perform Epitope Binning
Traditionally, epitope binning has been a time-consuming procedure, requiring a significant amount of effort as well as manpower in the whole process of experimentation and the analysis of the data. And being a time-consuming procedure despite showing good results, it has had limited applications. However, with technological advancements, it has been made possible to carry out epitope binning in a quicker way and with more efficiency through the use of epitome software. Modern-day tools help plot networks that help navigate the results of epitope binning intuitively. Such software and tools not only reduce the time involved in the experimental setup but also deliver flawless data. This data helps in making well-thought and informed decisions.
While epitope binning remains an essential component in the discovery of various drugs in the field of biotherapeutics, the process can be demanding. However, thanks to bioengineering, it has been made possible to check for binding regions on even highly complex disease pathways and targets. Making use of epitope software to simplify this complex process has amazing implications. To begin with, this makes it possible to test antigens and create categories for binding regions for a greater number of diseases by reducing the time involved in the process. This means more scientific studies can be carried out to test different drug candidates in an efficient manner.
Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Epitope Binning