ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the procedures for the covalent modification of antibody with fatty acids and discusses the methods for the incorporation of fatty acyl antibodies into liposome bilayers. Liposomes containing surface attached antibody molecules have been termed “immunoliposomes". Antibody molecules are first covalently modified with hydrophobic groups, the resulting amphipathic antibody molecules are then incorporated into liposome membranes. There are several other methods for the covalent coupling of antibodies to liposomes. Most of them use rather harsh conditions to couple the native or modified antibodies to preformed liposomes. The chapter outlines encapsulation of solutes into immunoliposomes since it is directly related to one of the major purposes of antibody coupling to liposomes, i.e., target-specific drug delivery. It describes interaction of immunoliposomes with cultured cells and some potential applications of these liposomes in medicine and biology. The distribution of antibody among the liposomes is heterogeneous.
