Forceful treatment stabilises drug antibody linkages

By playing tug-of war with individual molecules, Chinese scientists have shown that mechanical force can solve a stability problem facing drug antibody conjugates in large scale. Wei Wang and Yi Cao from Nanjing University and colleagues first stabilised maleimide–thiol linkages by pulling on them in intricate atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments. They then used force from ultrasonic energy to stabilise the linkages, which connect conventional small molecule drugs with antibodies in cancer therapies like ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla).