Reliable repurposing of the antibody interactome inside the cell

C Caitlin M. O’Shea R Rushba Shahzad K Kimia Aghasoleimani S Stuart Newman J Jiraporn Panmanee L Leonard C. Schalkwyk G Greg N. Brooke F Fiona E. Benson J James S. Trimmer D Daryl A. Bosco T Takao Fujisawa H Hidenori Ichijo N Neil R. Cashman S Stanislav Engel G Gareth S. A. Wright (School of Life Sciences, University of Essex)

Abstract

Abstract Eighty-five percent of the human proteome has at least one interacting monoclonal antibody. These molecules penetrate the cytoplasm poorly and are very often non-functional within the cell. Analysis of antibody variable domains and characterisation of forty-five single-chain variable fragment (scFv) intrabodies expressed in human cells indicated charge to have the greatest impact on solubility. We created new interdomain linkers, optimised scFv domain orientation and found an optimisable charge discrepancy between variable heavy framework and CDR sites. When applied to reduce the search space and rank the products of AI-led inverse folding this creates a single highly soluble, abundant and stable intrabody with parent antibody epitope recognition. Over six hundred intrabody sequences are presented targeting sixty cytoplasmic proteins with linear, conformational, post-translational modification or oligomer specificity. Interactions were validated for p53, α-synuclein, SOD1, polyQ, FUS/TLS, UCHL1 and GFP. Here we show reliable repurposing of the sequenced antibody interactome inside the cell.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 17, Issue 1
Published January 31, 2026
ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher Nature Portfolio

Journal Info

Nature Communications

Nature Portfolio

ISSN: 2041-1723 Open Access Life Sciences

Authors (15)

C

Caitlin M. O’Shea

R

Rushba Shahzad

K

Kimia Aghasoleimani

S

Stuart Newman

J

Jiraporn Panmanee

L

Leonard C. Schalkwyk

G

Greg N. Brooke

F

Fiona E. Benson

J

James S. Trimmer

D

Daryl A. Bosco

T

Takao Fujisawa

H

Hidenori Ichijo

N

Neil R. Cashman

S

Stanislav Engel

G

Gareth S. A. Wright

School of Life Sciences, University of Essex