Development and Epitope Mapping of Functional Anti-CD36 Antibodies
In recent years, with the advancement of biotechnology, an increasing number of antibody drugs have been developed for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and asthma. Research has shown that CD36 is involved in various physiological functions. It is known to be expressed on the surface of macrophages, where it plays a role in clearing damaged cells and phagocytosing bacteria. Therefore, we targeted CD36 to develop functional CD36 antibodies aimed at enhancing macrophage phagocytosis.
In this study, we tested the effects of CD36 monoclonal antibodies developed in our laboratory on macrophage phagocytosis. We successfully identified functional antibodies that either enhance or inhibit macrophage phagocytosis. Additionally, we used AlphaFold and other computational tools to predict the binding sites between the antibodies and CD36, followed by site-directed mutagenesis to validate the predictions.
Our findings demonstrate that the CD36 antibodies developed in our laboratory can enhance the clearance capacity of macrophages, offering potential applications in the treatment of various diseases.