Diabodies, Single-Chain Diabodies, and Their Derivatives

Abstract

The fragment variable (Fv) represents the smallest part of an antibody containing the entire antigen binding site formed by the variable heavy and light chain domains (VH and VL) (Filpula and McGuire 1999; Chames et al. 2009; Kontermann 2010). Because of the noncovalent interaction between the VH and VL domain, Fv molecules suffer from instability, which can be improved by connecting the two domains with a flexible peptide linker. These single-chain Fv (scFv) fragments can be easily produced in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems and represent the prototype recombinant antibody format.