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AAT Bioquest

Any suggestions on how to insert antibodies into living cells?

Posted April 24, 2020


Answer

There are many methods for inserting antibodies into living cells. One of these is physical delivery of the antibody. This includes techniques such as electroporation, which uses electric pulses to temporarily increase cell membrane permeability; microinjection, which is done with a needle; and sonoporation, which involves the use of ultrasound. Antibody insertion is also possible through direct intracellular expression using intrabodies, fusion with autoantibodies that naturally have the ability to enter cells, fusion with protein-transduction domains, or use of nanocarriers, which can be lipid- or polymer-based, as well as inorganic nanoparticles and viruses or virus-like particles.

Additional resources

Slastnikova, T. A., Ulasov, A. V., Rosenkranz, A. A., & Sobolev, A. S. (2018). Targeted Intracellular Delivery of Antibodies: The State of the Art. Frontiers in pharmacology, 9, 1208. doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.01208