| abstract |
Antibodies are engineered by replacing one or more amino acids of a parent antibody with non cross-linked, highly reactive cysteine amino acids. Antibody fragments may also be engineered with one or more cysteine amino acids to form cysteine engineered antibody fragments (ThioFab). Methods of design, preparation, screening, and selection of the cysteine engineered antibodies are provided. Cysteine engineered antibodies (Ab) are conjugated with one or more zirconium complex (Z) labels through a linker (L) to form cysteine engineered zirconium-labeled antibody conjugates having Formula I: n Ab-(L-Z) p In n where p is 1 to 4. Imaging methods and diagnostic uses for zirconium-radiolabeled, cysteine engineered antibody conjugate compositions are disclosed. |