Covalent Chemical Ligation Strategy for Mono- and Polyclonal Immunoglobulins at Their Nucleotide Binding Sites

Nonspecific ligation methods have been traditionally used to chemically modify immunoglobulins. Site-specific ligation of compounds (toxins or ligands) to antibodies has become increasingly important in the fields of therapeutic antibody–drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies. In this present study, we took advantage of the reported nucleotide-binding pocket (NBP) in the Fab arms of immunoglobulins by developing indole-based, 5-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene-derivatized OBOC peptide libraries for the identification of affinity elements that can be used as site-specific derivatization agents against both mono- and polyclonal antibodies. Ligation can occur at any one of the few lysine residues located at the NBP. Immunoconjugates resulting from such affinity elements can be used as therapeutics against cancer or infectious agents.