Cloning, expression and characterization of a murine-human chimeric antibody with specificity for pre-S2 surface antigen of hepatitis B virus

The cloning, expression and characterization of a murine-human chimeric antibody with specificity for the pre-S2 surface antigen (Ag) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is described. The heavy and light chain variable region (VH and VL) genes encoding the murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) were isolated and combined with human γ 1 and κ constant region genes, respectively. The expression vectors containing the chimeric heavy and light chain genes were sequentially electroporated into murine Sp2/0 hybridoma cells and transfectomas secreting chimeric antibody were isolated. The chimeric antibody was purified and characterized by ELISA, Western analysis and competition immunoassay, demonstrating that the transfectoma functionally express and secrete murine-human chimeric antibody which retained the specificity and affinity of the parental murine mAb.