title: Generation of human scFvs antibodies recognizing a prion protein epitope expressed on the surface of human lymphoblastoid cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A hallmark of prion disease is the transformation of normal cellular prion protein (PrPc) into an infectious disease-associated isoform, (PrPsc). Anti-prion protein monoclonal antibodies are invaluable for structure-function studies of PrP molecules. Furthermore recent in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that anti-PrP monoclonal antibodies can prevent the incorporation of PrPc into propagating prions. In the present article, we show two new human phage antibodies, isolated on recombinant hamster prion protein (rHaPrP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We adopted an antibody phage display strategy to isolate specific human antibodies directed towards rHaPrP which has been used as a bait for panning the synthetic ETH-2 antibody phage library. Two phage antibodies clones named MA3.B4 and MA3.G3 were isolated and characterized under genetic biochemical and immunocytochemical aspects. The clones were found to recognize the prion protein in ELISA studies. In flow-cytometry studies, these human single chain Fragment variable (scFv) phage-antibodies show a well defined pattern of reactivity on human lymphoblastoid and myeloid cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sequence analysis of the gene encoding for the antibody fragments and antigen recognition patterns determined by flow-cytometry analysis indicate that the isolated scFvs recognize novel epitopes in the PrPc molecule. These new anti PrPc human antibodies are unique reagents for prion protein detection and may represent a biologic platform to develop new reagents to treat PrPsc associated disease.
authors.affiliation: Section of Pharmacogenetics, Drug Resistance and Experimental Therapeutics, Department of Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. michela.flego@iss.it
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flego
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ascione
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamboni
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dupuis
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Imperiale
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cianfriglia
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000276:immunology*; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology*; D011328:Prions / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D011328:Prions