CD38 (VHH) Antibodies

The high surface expression of the NAD+- metabolizing ectoenzyme CD38 is considered the phenotypic hallmark of plasma cells which has propelled its intense investigation as a target for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. The resulting therapeutic antibodies typically compete with conventional analytical monoclonal antibodies due to epitope overlapping, limiting the ability to study surface expression of the occupied antigen at the single cell level. Single domain antibodies, constituted by the variable heavy domains of heavy chain antibodies (VHHs), that naturally occur in llamas and other camelids, can overcome these undesired interferences due to their extended foldable complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3). By virtue of this structural feature, the CD38(VHH) antibody clone JK36 recognizes a cryptic epitope not masked by conventional anti-CD38 therapeutic or analytic antibodies, allowing for uncompromised CD38 detection in presence of therapeutic antibodies such as Daratumumab.