| As more and more genomes become sequenced, the number of novel proteins with unknown function is steadily increasing. Consequently, a considerable interest exists to characterise the function of many gene products and to validate them as potential drug targets in particular disease pathways. Both gene knockout and antisense techniques are employed for this purpose, but they have their limitations. Intrabodies present an attractive alternative to modulate protein function and analyse the effects. Moreover, they can also be employed to target specific domains of the protein. However, the stability of an intrabody is often greatly impaired by the reducing intracellular conditions in the cell that prevent the formation of disulfide bridges. In this article we review a number of examples for the intracellular use of antibodies and discuss selection procedures for the identification of functional intrabodies. |
