Recombinant Production and Characterization of VHHs/Nanobodies Targeting Tau to Block Fibrillar Assembly

Abstract

Tau protein was extensively studied using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, providing a powerful way to determine interaction sites between Tau and partner proteins. Here we used this analytical tool to describe the epitopes of Tau-specific VHHs (variable domain of the heavy chain of the heavy chain-only antibodies, aka nanobodies) selected from a synthetic library. An in vitro Tau aggregation assay was subsequently used as a functional screen to check VHH efficacy as aggregation inhibitors. We have observed a correlation between the targeted epitope and the aggregation-inhibition capacity of a series of Tau-specific VHHs.

Keywords: Aggregation; NMR; Nanobodies; Purification; Tau; VHH.