Ross S Chambers | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

High-throughput antibody production.

Proteome-wide sets of antibodies would be an invaluable research resource for use in highly parallel assays such as microarrays. Such assays could provide deeper insights into biology and a wealth of information for clinical diagnostics. However, the rate of discovery of new proteins far exceeds the antibody supply currently produced from traditional animal-based systems. To address this problem, a variety of improvements in antibody production have been developed, including improved animal-based technologies, new antibody structures with superior performances, faster and more discriminating screening techniques, and rapid validation methods. Many of these technologies are amenable to automation, allowing antibody production throughput to significantly increase.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

High-level generation of polyclonal antibodies by genetic immunization.

Antibodies are important tools for investigating the proteome, but current methods for producing them have become a rate-limiting step. A primary obstacle in most methods for generating antibodies or antibody-like molecules is the requirement for at least microgram quantities of purified protein. We have developed a technology for producing antibodies using genetic immunization. Genetic immunization-based antibody production offers several advantages, including high throughput and high specificity. Moreover, antibodies produced from genetically immunized animals are more likely to recognize the native protein. Here we show that a genetic immunization-based system can be used to efficiently raise useful antibodies to a wide range of antigens. We accomplished this by linking the antigen gene to various elements that enhance antigenicity and by codelivering plasmids encoding genetic adjuvants. Our system, which was tested by immunizing mice with >130 antigens, has shown a final success rate of 84%.

Animals↗