In vivo Antibody Painting for Next Generation Weight Loss Drugs

Peptide-based therapeutics are currently in great demand but often suffer from rapid clearance and accumulation in off-target tissues which continue to present barriers in their clinical translation. Here, we developed an electrophilic peptide for the attachment of therapeutics to native immunoglobulin (IgG) in vivo, enabling the bioorthogonal covalent linkage, or "painting", of peptide drugs of choice to circulating IgGs directly in live animals. Native IgG painting with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) results in sustained body weight loss and prolonged blood glucose management after one dose. Such technology might revolutionize the next generation of long-acting peptide-based medicines.