Ceilia Leso

Antibody therapeutics are highly selective due to small loops in their complementarity determining regions (CDRs) forming multiple interactions with the select antigen. This high specificity leads to effective treatment; however, antibodies have limited cell permeability and need extensive humanization to decrease the risk of immunogenicity. Cyclic peptides can mimic these CDR loops, maintaining the high specificity of an antibody while presenting more favorable properties. Peptides eliminate the concern for toxic byproducts since they are made of amino acids, possess increased cell permeability, and are a more cost-effective treatment option. Predicting where a ring will occur in a cyclic peptide is not currently possible based on sequence information alone. For this study, lanthipeptides are being explored.