Advances in phage display technology for drug discovery

Abstract

Introduction: Over the past decade, several library-based methods have been developed to discover ligands with strong binding affinities for their targets. These methods mimic the natural evolution for screening and identifying ligand–target interactions with specific functional properties. Phage display technology is a well-established method that has been applied to many technological challenges including novel drug discovery.

Areas covered: This review describes the recent advances in the use of phage display technology for discovering novel bioactive compounds. Furthermore, it discusses the application of this technology to produce proteins and peptides as well as minimize the use of antibodies, such as antigen-binding fragment, single-chain fragment variable or single-domain antibody fragments like VHHs.

Expert opinion: Advances in screening, manufacturing and humanization technologies demonstrate that phage display derived products can play a significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The effects of this technology are inevitable in the development pipeline for bringing therapeutics into the market, and this number is expected to rise significantly in the future as new advances continue to take place in display methods. Furthermore, a widespread application of this methodology is predicted in different medical technological areas, including biosensing, monitoring, molecular imaging, gene therapy, vaccine development and nanotechnology.

Keywords:

• drug discovery
• library
• phage display
• therapeutic applications

Declaration of interest

The authors were supported by the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Notes

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