Isolation of Human scFv Antibodies Specific for House Dust Mite Antigens from an Asthma Patient by Using a Phage Display Library

Background: In order to characterize human antibodies with specificity for mite allergens at the molecular level, a scFv phage display library was constructed using peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes from an asthma patient allergic to mite as Ig gene sources. Methods: Immunoglobulin $V_H$ and V gene fragments were obtained by polymerase chain reaction, and randomly combined in pCANTAB-5E vector. The resulting human scFv phage display library had $3{\times}10^4$ independent clones, and biopanning was performed with house dust mite extracts. Results: Four scFv clones specific for house dust mite extract were isolated. Immunoblot assay showed that our clones reacted to 25 kDa and 50~60 kDa proteins with unknown identity in mite extracts. Sequence analysis indicated that two clones (b7 and c15) are identical, and all clones belong to human $V_H3$ subgroup. On the other hand, light chain usage was different in that two clones (a2 and b7 / c15) belonging to V ${\kappa}4$ subgroup, but a4 used V ${\kappa}1$ light chain gene. Conclusion: Our approach should facilitate provision of useful information on the antibody responses against allergens at the molecular level in humans.