Multiple-antigen immunization of chickens facilitates the generation of recombinant antibodies to autoantigens

Antibody phage display is a powerful tool for the generation of monoclonal antibodies against virtually any given antigen. Chickens are phylogenetically more distant from humans compared to other laboratory animals, such as mice and rats. Therefore, the use of chickens is especially beneficial when generating recombinant antibodies against human autoantigens, which are often highly conserved among mammals. Another advantage of using chickens in antibody phage display is that the preparation of single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody libraries is faster and easier compared to preparing such libraries from other species, as only two primer sets are needed for amplification of the chicken variable heavy chain (V(H)) and variable light chain (V(L)) genes. In the present study we explored the possibility to immunize chickens with antigen cocktails for the generation of recombinant antibody fragments directed to a range of human autoantigens. Two pairs of chickens were immunized with two cocktails of seven recombinant autoantigenic proteins, libraries were prepared and panned on the individual proteins. The polyclonal chicken sera reacted strongly with most of the antigens used for immunization. By creating and screening single-chain variable fragment antibody phage display libraries, recombinant monoclonal antibody fragments were isolated successfully against the autoantigens annexin XI, centromere protein B, heat shock protein B3, DNA topoisomerase I, histidyl tRNA synthetase, Ro52, Ro60, Rpp30 and U1A. In conclusion, the immunization of only four chickens with two distinct pools of a total of 14 autoantigenic proteins allowed the isolation of scFvs against nine of these antigens.     

An scFv phage clone that binds to human beta2-microglobulin.

Using phage display technology, a novel mouse scFv phage clone D1 was generated from mice immunized with single-chain HLA-A2, the human MHC class I molecules. D1 recognized a determinant in beta2-microglobulin. It reacted with beta2-microglobulin associated with the heavy chain of HLA-A2, recombinant beta2-microglobulin made in Escherichia coli or beta2-microglobulin prepared from human urine. The heavy chain variable region of D1 belongs to gene family VII and the light chain variable region belongs to the kappa chain gene family XI according to the Kabat database.     

Light-chain shuffling results in successful phage display selection of functional prokaryotic-expressed antibody fragments to N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside

Phage display technology makes it possible to introduce and rapidly screen diversity in antibody binding sites. Chain shuffling has been successfully used to humanize murine antibody fragments and also to obtain affinity matured variants. Here we report a different application of this method: the use of chain shuffling to overcome improper prokaryotic expression behavior of a hybridoma-derived single-chain antibody fragment. Construction and expression of such recombinant antibody fragments remain as empirical entities, hampered by the inability to express some antibody genes coming from eukaryotic cells in bacterial expression systems. Such problems are different for each combination of variable regions and can be serious enough to preclude the use of some hybridomas as sources of V regions to obtain recombinant antibody fragments. The particular binding properties and potential usefulness of some monoclonal antibodies make it highly desirable to bypass these technical limitations in order to develop smaller size therapeutic agents in the form of antibody fragments. The 14F7 mouse monoclonal antibody is one such attractive candidate due to its high specificity for the N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside overexpressed in tumor cells and its ability to distinguish this antigen from closely related gangliosides like N-acetyl GM3. Our goal was to construct a phage-displayed single-chain Fv antibody fragment derived from 14F7. After cloning the original variable regions from the 14F7 hybridoma in a phagemid vector, we were unable to detect either binding activity or even expression of antibody fragments in bacteria, despite repetitive efforts. We constructed light-chain shuffling libraries, from which functional antibody fragments were readily selected. These combined the original 14F7 heavy chain variable region with a wide variety of unrelated murine and human light-chain variable regions. New antibody fragments retained the valuable properties of the monoclonal antibody in terms of fine specificity, affinity and tumor recognition. They were readily produced by bacteria, either in phage-displayed form or as soluble molecules, and provided a panel of potentially useful variants for cancer diagnosis and immunotherapy. Chain shuffling and phage display were found to be useful strategies for selecting antibody fragments on the basis of both prokaryotic expression and antigen binding criteria.     

Pertinence of kappa and lambda recombinant antibodies directed against thyroid peroxidase in thyroid autoimmune disease

Forty-one single-chain variable region fragments (scFvs) directed against thyroid peroxidase (TPO) were obtained by phage display libraries constructed from thyroid-infiltrating B cells of Graves' disease patients. Among these scFvs, 24.4% used a Vkappa light chain whereas 75.6% shows a light chain of Vlamda origin. Study of light chain gene usage in the TPO antibody repertoire demonstrated a dominance of the Vkappa 1-39 and Vlambda 1-51 genes. Thyroid peroxidase probing of overlapping peptides covering the amino acid sequences of anti-TPO T2/kappa and T13/lambda variable regions demonstrated a more restricted antigen recognition on T13/lambda than on T2/kappa. These two recombinant antibodies, expressed as whole IgG1 in the baculovirus/insect cell system, inhibited the binding to TPO of serum TPO autoantibodies whatever the light chain. Our study indicates that lambda as well as kappa light chain usage are found in the TPO antibody repertoire of thyroid-infiltrating B cells and are pertinent in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid disease.     

Novel vectors for the expression of antibody molecules using variable regions generated by polymerase chain reaction.

A new family of vectors has been produced which facilitates the cloning and expression of immunoglobulin variable regions cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The vectors are designed to express the cloned variable regions joined to human constant regions and take advantage of priming in the leader sequence so that no amino acid changes will be introduced into the mature antibody molecule. Both the heavy chain and light chain vectors utilize a murine VH promoter provided with an EcoRV restriction site so that the amplified variable regions can be directly cloned into a functional promoter. For the heavy chain an NheI restriction site has been generated at the first two amino acids of CH1 and the cloned leader and variable region are fused directly to the CH1 domain of the constant region. When the leader and variable regions of the light chain were fused directly to C kappa, no expression was observed. Therefore the light chain expression vector was designed with a SalI restriction site for cloning into a splice junction 3' of the variable region; VL then is joined to C kappa by splicing. Both vectors direct the expression of functional, fully assembled immunoglobulin molecules with the expected molecular weight. Use of redundant oligomers to prime the PCR permits the cloning and expression of recombinant antibodies without any prior information as to their sequence and makes it possible to rapidly generate recombinant antibodies from any monoclonal antibody producing cell line.     

抗人CD25分子单链抗体基因的构建、表达及初步鉴定

目的:构建和表达抗人CD25分子单链抗体(scFv)蛋白,并测定其生物学活性。方法:用RT-PCR方法从能分泌特异性抗CD25单克隆抗体(mAb)的杂交瘤细胞中分离纯化抗体VH和VL基因。用重叠延伸PCR方法将VH和VL拼接在一起,构建抗CD25分子scFv的基因。将scFv基因克隆至pMD18T,用限制性内切酶切以及测序鉴定。将scFv基因连接到pBAD/gⅢA表达载体,转化Top10表达菌。阳性克隆用左旋阿拉伯糖诱导4 h,SDS-PAGE电泳检测蛋白纯度,竞争抑制ELISA实验检测其活性。结果:scFv基因长度约为700 bp。通过DNA序列测定和分析,构建出VL-(GGGGS)3-VH(但其中349位G突变为A,使Linker其中一位Gly→Ser)。其VH隶属于小鼠Ig重链可变区Ⅲ(C)亚类,全长351 bp,可编码117个氨基酸;其VL隶属于小鼠Igκ轻链可变区Ⅳ亚类,全长318 bp,可编码106个氨基酸。TOP10中表达的scFv抗体加上同时融合表达的两个标签6×His和C-mycMr约为31 000,结果符合scFv的Mr。竞争抑制细胞ELISA实验显示表达的scFv具有活性。结论:此scFv基因的表达产物具有一定的特异结合活性。为抗CD25 scFv的临床应用打下了基础。     

The role of valency in the selection of anti-carbohydrate single-chain Fvs from phage display libraries

Several strategies were investigated for phage display of anti-carbohydrate single-chain Fvs (scFvs) using the anti-Salmonella Se155-4 scFv as a model system. All were based on the knowledge that panning V_H CDR libraries displayed in a standard pIII phagemid/helper phage format against immobilized multivalent carbohydrate antigens selects almost solely for mutants with higher yields of soluble product or scFvs that form dimers or higher oligomers even when the linker length is chosen to give monomeric molecules. Construction of scFv libraries, in a phagemid vector, with mutations that already provide higher yields and/or short linkers to promote dimeric display greatly reduced these undesired selection pressures. However, the panning of an error-prone library of the entire scFv in a short linker format yielded two mutants that existed partially in higher oligomeric forms, indicating that dimeric display did not entirely eliminate the selection pressure problem. In one mutant a Ser75Gly mutation led to the formation of greater amounts of dimeric, trimeric and tetrameric scFv and surface plasmon resonance analysis of these different forms gave quantitative data for the functional affinity of these different scFv forms. Finally, a phage vector was constructed and the original V_H CDR library was transferred to this vector. This display format, in which scFv is displayed on all three to five copies of pIII, seemed to be superior in terms of selection on the basis of binding site affinity and as a display mode for scFvs with low intrinsic affinity. While the use of the phage vector did not lead to the isolation of higher affinity binders from the library employed here, it did almost entirely remove the undesired selection pressures in that there was selection for the wild-type sequence. It is suggested that the multivalency of display provided by phage vectors is preferable to any phagemid vector strategy for the de novo isolation of anti-carbohydrate antibodies from phage libraries.     

A phagemid system enabling easy estimation of the combinatorial antibody library size

We developed a new phagemid system for the generation of combinatorial antibody libraries. This system allows the recombination efficiency to be estimated easily, which aids the accurate measurement of the antibody library size. Two phagemids were constructed. pRTCB bears the structural tetracycline-resistant gene (tetR) and pRTCA bears its promoter region (Ptet). pRTCA and pRTCB were constructed so that recombinase-mediated chain exchange (RMCE) in Cre-expressing bacteria results in the simultaneous acquisition of Tet resistance and newly recombined single chain variable fragment (scFv) genes. PCR and restriction enzyme analysis of randomly selected tetR phagemids showed that all Tet-resistant phagemids have an active tetR gene and a recombined scFv gene. RMCE efficiency was measured by the ratio of the tetR colonies to the total colonies. The scFv proteins expressed from the recombined phagemid vectors were functional. Thus, our phagemid vector system may be useful for making combinatorial antibody libraries.     

抗人膀胱癌噬菌体单链抗体的初步制备

应用ＰＣＲ方法，从杂交瘤细胞中扩增鼠抗人膀胱癌抗体重、轻链可变区基因，经ＤＮＡ接头连接后与噬菌粒ｐＣＡＮＴＡＢ５重组，转化大肠杆菌后制备噬菌体抗体文库，通过亲和筛选、再转染、克隆化及鉴定，得到高亲和力抗人膀胱癌噬菌体单链抗体。     

Guinea pig C3 specific rabbit single chain Fv antibodies from bone marrow, spleen and blood derived phage libraries

We constructed combinatorial immunoglobulin libraries from the whole rabbit antibody repertoire of bone marrow, spleen and peripheral blood of a rabbit immunized with guinea pig complement protein C3. By means of the phage display technology we selected guinea pig C3 specific single chain Fv (scFv) antibodies from each of the libraries. None of the scFv antibodies cross reacted with guinea pig C3a, human C3 or rat C3. The frequency of bone marrow derived C3 positive clones was much higher as compared to blood or spleen derived clones. Additionally bone marrow and spleen derived clones show higher diversity than clones, obtained from blood, as determined by fingerprint analysis with the restriction enzyme AluI. Dissociation rate constants for all scFvs were similar, indicating that the source of the scFvs had no influence on affinities. The antibody fragments were used to analyze complement activation during xenotransplantation. Several blood or bone marrow derived scFvs bound to C3 located on rat liver endothelium after hyperacute rejection of a heterotopically transplanted rat liver into guinea pig. These data demonstrate that monoclonal rabbit scFvs can be easily generated from recombinant phage display libraries, constructed from spleen, blood or bone marrow. The selected guinea pig C3 specific scFvs appear to be useful to detect complement activation during xenotransplantation in guinea pigs.     

人源性抗NS5B单链抗体的制备及鉴定

目的:运用核糖体展示技术制备抗HCV NS5B人源性单链抗体,并进行初步分析。方法:以HCV阳性患者的外周血单个核细胞为材料,扩增全套重链可变区和轻链可变区的基因,构建人单链抗体(scFv)核糖体展示文库;以NS5B蛋白为靶标筛选到scFv基因,并将其连接到pET16b载体并转化至大肠杆菌BL21,诱导表达scFv;对scFv基因测序和特异性分析。结果:成功构建抗HCV scFv库;获得2个具有较强结合活性的scFv;基因分析证实获得预期抗体。结论:成功制备了人源性抗NS5B scFv,为HCV的免疫治疗奠定了基础。     

Lupus anti-ribosomal P peptide antibodies show limited heterogeneity and are predominantly of the IgG1 and IgG2 subclasses

A 22-amino acid synthetic peptide (P peptide) containing the conserved, shared autoantigenic determinants of the ribosomal P proteins was conjugated to rabbit serum albumin and used to analyze anti-P heterogeneity in 17 lupus sera. Anti-P peptide antibodies demonstrated moderate restriction in isotype (IgM and IgG, but not IgA), subclass (predominantly IgG1 and IgG2), light chain type (predominantly kappa) and spectrotype. In one serum, almost exclusive use of IgG2 and the kappa light chain was observed. These findings indicate that there is a nonrandom selection of heavy and light chain constant region genes as well as limited variable region diversity in the anti-P peptide response.     

Combining EL4-B5-based B-cell stimulation and phage display technology for the successful isolation of human anti-Scl-70 autoantibody fragments

Scl-70 is the major antigen recognised by autoantibodies in the sera of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The autoantibodies that specifically react with Scl-70 are highly characteristic of the disease and represent valuable markers for the diagnosis of SSc. We describe a novel strategy for cloning autoantibody fragments starting with a small blood sample from an SSc patient. B cells isolated from the collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured in vitro using the EL4-B5 system. Anti-Scl-70 IgG-producing cells were pooled for RNA preparation followed by the generation of phagemid libraries of approximately 10(7) independent single-chain Fvs (scFvs). The screening of these libraries by phage display allowed us to isolate four anti-Scl-70 scFvs following three rounds of biopanning. About 10 times more starting blood material was needed to generate scFv libraries of similar size from PBMCs of an SSc patient and only two anti-Scl-70 scFvs were isolated after three rounds of phage selection. Together, this work shows that functional autoantibody fragments can be advantageously cloned after in vitro expansion of B cells. The isolated anti-Scl-70 autoantibody fragments represent useful tools for calibrating SSc diagnostic assays.     

Identification of scFv antibody fragments that specifically recognise the heroin metabolite 6-monoacetylmorphine but not morphine

Use of phage display of recombinant antibodies and large repertoire naïve antibody libraries for identifying antibodies of high specificity has been extensively reported. Nevertheless, there have been few reported antibodies to haptens that have originated from naïve antibody libraries with potential use in diagnostics. We have used chain shuffling of lead single-chain fragment variable (scFv) antibodies, isolated from a naïve antibody library, to screen for antibodies that specifically recognise the major metabolite of heroin, 6-monoacetylmorphine (6MAM). The antibodies were identified by screening high-density colonies of Escherichia coli expressing soluble scFv antibody fragments without prior expression on bacteriophage (phage display). The antibodies recognise 6MAM with affinities of 1–3×10⁻⁷ M with no crossreactivity to morphine. These antibodies can potentially be used for developing a rapid immunoassay in drug-testing programs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an antibody that distinguishes 6MAM from its de-acetylated form, morphine.     

Methods for the generation of chicken monoclonal antibody fragments by phage display

Phage display has become an important approach for the preparation of monoclonal antibodies from both immune and nonimmune sources. This approach allows for the rapid selection of monoclonal antibodies without the restraints of the conventional hybridoma approach. Although antibodies to a wide variety of antigens have been selected using phage display, some highly conserved mammalian antigens have proven to be less immunogenic in mammalian animals commonly used for immunization. In order to optimize methods for constructing chicken immunoglobulin phage display libraries in the pComb3 system, we have immunized chickens with the hapten fluorescein, and generated combinatorial antibody libraries from spleen and bone marrow RNA. Herein we present methods for the isolation of scFv, diabody and Fab fragment libraries from chickens. Chicken Fab fragment libraries are constructed using human constant regions, facilitating detection with readily available reagents as well as humanization. Analysis of the selected V-genes revealed that gene conversion events were more extensive in light-chain variable region genes as compared to heavy-chain variable region genes. In addition, we present a new variant of the pComb3 phage display vector system.     

具有GPX活性的单克隆抗体可变区基因的克隆和序列分析

目的利用分泌具有GPX活性的单克隆抗体(mAb)的杂交瘤细胞3G5,克隆其mAb体的可变区基因。方法提取杂交瘤细胞的总RNA ,分离mRNA ,反转录合成cDNA。经PCR扩增VH 基因和VL 基因 ,将VH 基因和VL基因与载体 pGEM T连接后 ,进行酶切鉴定和序列分析。结果构建了2个分别含有VH 和VL 基因的重组质粒。序列分析表明 ,VH 和VL 分别属于mouscheavychainsubgroupIII和mouselightchainsubgroupV亚群 ,长度为372和324bp ,编码124和108个氨基酸 ,在高变区分别有4和2个丝氨酸。结论克隆的VH 和VL 基因符合功能性重排的鼠抗体可变区基因特征 ,为将来制备具有GPX活性的单链抗体提供了可靠的基因材料。     

Improvement of anti-Burkholderia mouse monoclonal antibody from various phage-displayed single-chain antibody libraries

To improve anti-Burkholderia monoclonal antibody (MAb) binding affinity, six single chain variable fragments (scFvs) constructed previously were used as scaffolds to construct large highly-diversified phage-displayed mouse scFv random and domain libraries. First, we employed random mutagenesis to introduce random point mutations into entire variable regions, generating six random libraries. Additionally, the oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis was targeted on complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) from each variable region of heavy (VH) and light chains (VL) derived from six scFvs, and generated eighteen domain libraries including six VH CDR3, six VL CDR3, and six combined VH/VL CDR3 mutated domains, respectively. We collected high scFvs binders through panning experiment over the large (size ~1 × 10?) random and domain libraries. The quality of the libraries was validated by successful selection of high-affinity clones. Random mutagenesis generated many mutant scFv clones having more than one amino acid changes around framework regions, but not many in CDRs. Surprisingly, the resulting eight higher scFv binders were selected from CDR3 mutations, but not from random mutations. Six of them resulted from CDR3 mutations of light chain, except for two scFvs from heavy chain, showing both Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei had preferentially influenced the VL CDR3. Furthermore, all eight higher scFvs converted to full format human IgG1 antibodies were expressed transiently in 293T cell line. Five chimeric MAbs showed improved higher binding activity, as much as 0.2-0.3 at O.D. 405 nm, than positive control MAbs. These libraries could be valuable sources for selection of anti-Burkholderia antibodies and discovery of the relevant epitope(s) for developing effective vaccines or therapeutics.