title: A general method for the selection of high-level scFv and IgG antibody expression by stably transfected mammalian cells.
abstract: The isolation of mammalian cell lines capable of high-yield expression of recombinant antibodies is typically performed by screening multiple individual clones by limiting dilution techniques. A number of experimental strategies have recently been devised to identify high-expressing clones, but protocols are often difficult to implement, time consuming, costly and limited in terms of number of clones which can be screened. In this article, we describe new vectors for the expression of recombinant antibodies in IgG format and in other formats, based on the single-chain Fv module, as well as a high-throughput screening procedure, based on the direct staining of antibodies transiting the membrane of a stably transfected cell, followed by preparative sorting using a high-speed cell sorter. This procedure allows, in one step, to deposit single cells into individual wells of a 96-well microtiter plate (thus facilitating cloning) and to preferentially recover those rare cell populations which express dramatically higher levels of recombinant antibody. Using cell cultures followed by affinity purification techniques, we could confirm that the new vectors and the new screening procedure reliably yield high-expression clones and homogenous protein preparations. We expect that these techniques should find broad applicability for both academic and industrial antibody engineering research.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuberbühler
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bacci
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giovannoni
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sommavilla
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaspar
authors.forename: Eveline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trachsel
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C513931:SIP(L19) fusion protein