• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.489-494
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• 2015

The in vitro antibody discovery technologies revolutionized the generation of target-specific antibodies that traditionally relied on the humoral response of immunized animals. An antibody library, a large collection of diverse, pre-constructed antibodies, can be rapidly screened using in vitro display technologies such as phage display. One of the keys to successful in vitro antibody discovery is the quality of the library diversity. Antibody diversity can be obtained either from natural B-cell sources or by the synthetic methods that combinatorially generate random nucleotide sequences. While the functionality of a natural antibody library depends largely upon the library size, various other factors can affect the quality of a synthetic antibody library, making the design and construction of synthetic antibody libraries complicated and challenging. In this review, we present various library designs and diversification methods for synthetic antibody library. From simple degenerate oligonucleotide synthesis to trinucleotide synthesis to physicochemically optimized library design, the synthetic approach is evolving beyond the simple emulation of natural antibodies, into a highly sophisticated method that is capable of producing high quality antibodies suitable for therapeutic, diagnostic, and other demanding applications. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(9): 489-494]

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.313-319
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• 2009

The dual-vector system-II (DVS-II), which allows efficient display of Fab antibodies on phage, has been reported previously, but its practical applicability in a phage-displayed antibody library has not been verified. To resolve this issue, we created two small combinatorial human Fab antibody libraries using the DVS-II, and isolation of target-specific antibodies was attempted. Biopanning of one antibody library, termed DVFAB-1L library, which has a $1.3{\times}10^7$ combinatorial antibody complexity, against fluorescein-BSA resulted in successful isolation of human Fab clones specific for the antigen despite the presence of only a single light chain in the library. By using the unique feature of the DVS-II, an antibody library of a larger size, named DVFAB-131L, which has a $1.5{\times}10^9$ combinatorial antibody complexity, was also generated in a rapid manner by combining $1.3{\times}10^7$ heavy chains and 131 light chains and more diverse anti-fluorescein-BSA Fab antibody clones were successfully obtained. Our results demonstrate that the DVS-II can be applied readily in creating phage-displayed antibody libraries with much less effort, and target-specific antibody clones can be isolated reliably via light chain promiscuity of antibody molecules.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.655-666
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• 2017

We constructed a large $na{\ddot{i}}ve$ human Fab library ($3{\times}10^{10}$ colonies) from the lymphocytes of 809 human donors, assessed available diversities of the heavy-chain variable (VH) and ${\kappa}$ light-chain variable (VK) domain repertoires, and validated the library by selecting Fabs against 10 therapeutically relevant antigens by phage display. We obtained a database of unique 7,373 VH and 41,804 VK sequences by 454 pyrosequencing, and analyzed the repertoires. The distribution of VH and VK subfamilies and germline genes in our antibody repertoires slightly differed from those in earlier published natural antibody libraries. The frequency of somatic hypermutations (SHMs) in heavy-chain complementarity determining region (HCDR)1 and HCDR2 are higher compared with the natural IgM repertoire. Analysis of position-specific SHMs in CDRs indicates that asparagine, threonine, arginine, aspartate and phenylalanine are the most frequent non-germline residues on the antibody-antigen interface and are converted mostly from the germline residues, which are highly represented in germline SHM hotspots. The amino acid composition and length-dependent changes in amino acid frequencies of HCDR3 are similar to those in previous reports, except that frequencies of aspartate and phenylalanine are a little higher in our repertoire. Taken together, the results show that this antibody library shares common features of natural antibody repertoires and also has unique features. The antibody library will be useful in the generation of human antibodies against diverse antigens, and the information about the diversity of natural antibody repertoires will be valuable in the future design of synthetic human antibody libraries with high functional diversity.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2003

Background: Phage display is the most widely used technique among display methods to produce monoclonal antibody fragment with a specific binding activity. Having a large library for efficient antibody display/selection is quite laborious process to have more than $10^9$ members of transformants. To overcome these limitations, several in vitro selection approaches have been reported. Ribosome display that links phenotypes, proteins, directly to genotype, mRNA, is one of the in vitro display methods. Ribosome display can reach the size of scFv library up to $10^{14}$ molecules and it can be further diversified during PCR steps. To select the high affinity scFv from one pot library, we established ribosome display technique by modifying the previously reported eukaryotic translation system. Methods: To establish the antibody selection system by ribosome display, we used 3D8, anti-DNA antibody. A 3D8 scFv was synthesized in vitro by an in vitro transcription-translation system. The translated 3D8 scFv and the encoding 3D8 mRNA are connected to the ribosome. These scFv-ribosome-mRNA complexes were selected by binding to their specific antigens. The eluted mRNAs from the complexes are reverse transcribed and re-amplified by PCR. To apply this system, antibody library from immunized mouse with terminal protein (TP)-peptide of hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase TP domain was also used. This TP-peptide encompasses the 57~80 amino acid residues of TP. These mRNA/ribosome/scFv complexes by our system were panned three times against TP-peptide. The enrichment of antibody from library was determined by radioimmunoassay. Results: We specifically selected 3D8, anti-DNA antibody, against ssDNA as a model system. The selected 3D8 RNAs sequences from translation complexes were recovered by RT-PCR. By applying this model system, we enriched TP-peptide-specific scFv pools through three cycles of panning from immunized library. Conclusion: We show that our translating ribosome complexes are well maintained and we can enrich the TP-specific scFv pools. This system can be applied to select specific antibody from an antibody library.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.829-832
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• 2001

Phage display technique as a new antibody production method can express the protein on the minor coat of phage particle in a library constructed by utilizing a recombination of genes coding the variable regions of immunoglobulin. This new method is particularly advantageous in producing antibodies against toxic substances and compounds with low immunogenicities. We first confirmed the concept of antibody expression on the phage particle by selecting a positive control of the phage library (e.g., Griffin.l donated from MRC center in England). The library was then employed to produce antibodies specific to human serum albumin via repetitive bio-panning procedure. The mean affinity of the antibodies selected gradually increased along with the number of bio-panning, which demonstrated that the phage display method could produce monocloanl antibodies with high affinities.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.45.1-45.13
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• 2021

Background: Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an infectious disease caused by the peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) that mainly produces respiratory symptoms in affected animals, resulting in great losses in the world's agriculture industry every year. Single-domain variable heavy chain (VHH) antibody fragments, also referred to as nanobodies, have high expression yields and other advantages including ease of purification and high solubility. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to obtain a single-domain antibody with good reactivity and high specificity against PPRV. Methods: A VHH cDNA library was established by immunizing camels with PPRV vaccine, and the capacity and diversity of the library were examined. Four PPRV VHHs were selected, and the biological activity and antigen-binding capacity of the four VHHs were identified by western blot, indirect immunofluorescence, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyses. ELISA was used to identify whether the four VHHs were specific for PPRV, and VHH neutralization tests were carried out. ELISA and western blot analyses were used to identify which PPRV protein was targeted by VHH2. Results: The PPRV cDNA library was constructed successfully. The library capacity was greater than 2.0 × 10⁶ cfu/mL, and the inserted fragment size was approximately 400 bp to 2000 bp. The average length of the cDNA library fragment was about 1000 bp, and the recombination rate was approximately 100%. Four single-domain antibody sequences were selected, and proteins expressed in the supernatant were obtained. The four VHHs were shown to have biological activity, close affinity to PPRV, and no cross-reaction with common sheep diseases. All four VHHs had neutralization activity, and VHH2 was specific to the PPRV M protein. Conclusions: The results of this preliminary research of PPRV VHHs showed that four screened VHH antibodies could be useful in future applications. This study provided new materials for inclusion in PPRV research.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.155-164
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• 2012

It is well established that blocking the interaction of EGFR with growth factors leads to the arrest of tumor growth, resulting in tumor cell death. ER414 is a human monoclonal antibody (mAb) derived by guided selection of the mouse mAb A13. The ER414 exhibited a ~17-fold lower affinity and, as a result, lower efficacy of inhibition of the EGF-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR when compared with mAb A13 and cetuximab. We performed a stepwise in vitro affinity maturation to improve the affinity of ER414. We obtained a 3D model of ER414 to identify the amino acids in the CDRs that needed to be mutated. Clones were selected from the phage library with randomized amino acids in the CDRs and substitution of amino acids in the HCDR3 and LCDR1 of ER414 led to improved affinity. A clone, H3-14, with a ~20-fold increased affinity, was selected from the HCDR3 randomized library. Then three clones, ER2, ER78 and ER79, were selected from the LCDR1 randomized library based on the H3-14 but did not show further increased affinities compared to that of H3-14. Of the three, ER2 was chosen for further characterization due to its better expression than others. We successfully performed affinity maturation of ER414 and obtained antibodies with a similar affinity as cetuximab. And antibody from an affinity maturation inhibits the EGF-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR in a manner similar to cetuximab.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.225-235
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• 2009

Antibody phage display provides a powerful and efficient tool for the discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic and other applications. Antibody clones from synthetic libraries with optimized design features have several distinct advantages that include high stability, high levels of expression, and ease of downstream optimization and engineering. In this study, a fully synthetic human scFv library with six diversified CDRs was constructed by polymerase chain reaction assembly of overlapping oligonucleotides. In order to maximize the functional diversity of the library, a ${\beta}$-lactamase selection strategy was employed in which the assembled scFv gene repertoire was fused to the 5'-end of the ${\beta}$-lactamase gene, and in-frame scFv clones were enriched by carbenicillin selection. A final library with an estimated total diversity of $7.6{\times}10^9$, greater than 70% functional diversity, and diversification of all six CDRs was obtained after insertion of fully randomized CDR-H3 sequences into this proofread repertoire. The performance of the library was validated using a number of target antigens, against which multiple unique scFv sequences with dissociation constants in the nanomolar range were isolated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.408-420
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• 2014

Yeast surface-displayed antibody libraries provide an efficient and quantitative screening resource for given antigens, but suffer from typically modest library sizes owing to low yeast transformation efficiency. Yeast mating is an attractive method for overcoming the limit of yeast transformation to construct a large, combinatorial antibody library, but the optimal conditions have not been reported. Here, we report a large synthetic human Fab (antigen binding fragment) yeast surface-displayed library generated by stepwise optimization of yeast mating conditions. We first constructed HC (heavy chain) and LC (light chain) libraries, where all of the six CDRs (complementarity-determining regions) of the variable domains were diversified mimicking the human germline antibody repertoires by degenerate codons, onto single frameworks of VH3-23 and $V{\kappa}1$-16 germline sequences, in two haploid cells of opposite mating types. Yeast mating conditions were optimized in the order of cell density, media pH, and cell growth phase, yielding a mating efficiency of ~58% between the two haploid cells carrying HC and LC libraries. We constructed two combinatorial Fab libraries with CDR-H3 of 9 or 11 residues in length with colony diversities of more than $10^9$ by one round of yeast mating between the two haploid HC and LC libraries, with modest diversity sizes of ${\sim}10^7$. The synthetic human Fab yeast-displayed libraries exhibited relative amino acid compositions in each position of the six CDRs that were very similar to those of the designed repertoires, suggesting that they are a promising source for human Fab antibody screening.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.244-249
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• 2011

The quality of a phage-displayed antibody library deteriorates with clonal variations, which are caused by differentially expressed Escherichia coli antibody genes. Using the human Fab SP114 against the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex-E2 (PDCE2), we created four E. coli TOP10F' clones with a pCMTG phagemid encoding Fab-pIII (pCMTG-Fab), Fd ($V_H+C_{H1}$)-pIII (pCMTG-Fd), or light chain (L) (pCMTG-L), or the vector only (pCMTG-${\Delta}Fab$) to investigate the effect of clonal variations in a defined manner. Compared to the others, the E. coli clone with pCMTG-Fab was growth retarded in liquid culture, but efficiently produced phage progenies by Ex12 helper phage superinfection. Our results suggest that an antibody library must be cultured for a short duration before helper phage superinfection, and that the Ex12 helper phage helped to alleviate the detrimental effect of clonal variation, at least in part, by preferentially increasing functional phage antibodies during phage amplification.