title: Optimizing selection of large animals for antibody production by screening immune response to standard vaccines.
abstract: Antibodies made in large animals are integral to many biomedical research endeavors. Domesticated herd animals like goats, sheep, donkeys, horses and camelids all offer distinct advantages in antibody production. However, their cost of use is often prohibitive, especially where poor antigen response is commonplace; choosing a non-responsive animal can set a research program back or even prevent experiments from moving forward entirely. Over the course of production of antibodies from llamas, we found that some animals consistently produced a higher humoral antibody response than others, even to highly divergent antigens, as well as to their standard vaccines. Based on our initial data, we propose that these "high level responders" could be pre-selected by checking antibody titers against common vaccines given to domestic farm animals. Thus, time and money can be saved by reducing the chances of getting poor responding animals and minimizing the use of superfluous animals.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Mary K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Fridy
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Brian T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Chait
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fenyö
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: rout@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rout
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002161:Camelids, New World / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000276:immunology; D012756:Sheep; D014611:Vaccination / Q000662:veterinary; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011819:Rabies Vaccines; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
keywords: Antibody generation; Antigen; Camelid antibody; Immunization; Vaccine