ReviewFrontiers in immunology2025
VNAR: shark single-domain antibodies for the new era of medical biotechnology.
Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intracellular protein binders for imaging, control and future therapeutics.Nature biomedical engineering · 2026Review
- The Promise of Single-Domain Antibodies as Ocular Therapeutics: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Shark-derived single-domain antibodies, known as VNARs, represent unique and advanced tools in medical biotechnology. Recognized for their small size, simple structure, and exceptional stability, VNARs can access cryptic epitopes that are inaccessible to traditional antibodies, making them valuable tools for next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Additionally, their evolutionary origin and structural diversity provide resistance to extreme pH, temperature, and proteolytic environments, making them especially suitable for demanding biomedical settings such as ocular and intestinal applications. Recent progress highlights their growing clinical potential: VNAR-based CAR-T cells targeting PD-L1 demonstrated strong anti-tumor effects in preclinical assays, with VNAR-B2 successfully blocking PD-L1/PD-1 interactions and reducing tumor growth in mouse models. Meanwhile, the TXB2 VNAR platform allows efficient, non-invasive transport of biologics across the blood-brain barrier. These developments emphasize VNARs' advantages over traditional antibodies and even camelid VHHs in targeting difficult-to-reach sites and environments. Additionally, commercial development in VNAR technologies is advancing, with companies like Elasmogen using its soloMER™ platform to develop shark-derived, humanized single-domain antibodies for challenging therapeutic environments. This review consolidates emerging insights into VNAR structural biology, display technologies (phage, ribosome, yeast, and bacterial), and library engineering strategies, emphasizing their growing role in immunodiagnostics, infectious disease detection, targeted therapies, and barrier-crossing biologics. It addresses key translational challenges such as humanization and half-life extension, which are crucial for clinical application, ultimately highlighting the transformative potential of VNARs in bridging vital gaps in modern medicine.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.