About the Authors
- Thandokuhle Khumalo
-
Affiliation School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, The Republic of South Africa
- Uwe Reusch
-
Affiliation Affimed Therapeutics AG, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
- Stefan Knackmuss
-
Affiliation Affimed Therapeutics AG, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
- Melvyn Little
-
Affiliation Affimed Therapeutics AG, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
- Robin B. Veale
-
Affiliation School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, The Republic of South Africa
- Stefan F. T. Weiss
-
* E-mail: stefan.weiss@wits.ac.za
Affiliation School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, The Republic of South Africa
Competing Interests
SFTW is currently a PLOS ONE Editorial Board Member. UR, SK and ML are affiliated with or employed by Affimed Therapeutics AG, a commercial company which produces therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Furthermore, the anti-LRP/LR antibodies used in this study for the blockade of angiogenesis have been described in two international patents as potential therapeutic anticancer tools. Namely patent, EP0984987, entitled “A soluble laminin receptor precursor and methods to inhibit its interactions” has claims directed to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a soluble laminin receptor precursor or functional derivative or fragment thereof and is owned by the University of the Witwatersrand. This patent has been validated in the United Kingdom and Germany. The second patent, EP1670826, is co-owned by the University of the Witwatersrand and Affimed Therapeutics AG and is entitled “Singlechain antibody acting against 37 kDa/67 kDa laminin receptor as tools for the diagnosis and therapy of prion diseases and cancer, production and use thereof”. This granted European patent was validated in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The claims are directed to a single chain antibody molecule specifically targeting LRP/LR for the treatment of prion diseases or cancer. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: SFTW RV. Performed the experiments: TK. Analyzed the data: TK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: UR SK ML. Wrote the paper: TK. Revised manuscript: SFTW RV.