Characterization of three different single chain antibodies recognizing non-reducing terminal mannose residues expressed in Escherichia coli by an inducible T7 expression system

Affinity Chromatography of Native and Recombinant Proteins from Receptors for Insulin and IGF-I to Recombinant Single Chain Antibodies

Affinity chromatography is an efficient method to isolate proteins by taking advantage of their affinities for specific molecules such as substrates, inhibitors, antigens, ligands, antibodies, and other interacting molecules, including subunits. Nowadays, we take the effectiveness and excellence of this technology for granted. This essay will mainly cover the use of affinity chromatography based on my experience.

Purification and refolding of anti-T-antigen single chain antibodies (scFvs) expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies

T-antigen (Galβ1-3GalNAcα-1-Ser/Thr) is an oncofetal antigen that is commonly expressed as a carbohydrate determinant in many adenocarcinomas. Since it is associated with tumor progression and metastasis, production of recombinant antibodies specific for T-antigen could lead to the development of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. Previously, we isolated and characterized 11 anti-T-antigen phage clones from a phage library displaying human single-chain antibodies (scFvs) and purified one scFv protein, 1G11. More recently, we purified and characterized 1E8 scFv protein using a Drosophila S2 expression system. In the current study, four anti-T-antigen scFv genes belonging to Groups 1-4 were purified from inclusion bodies expressed in Escherichia coli cells. Inclusion bodies isolated from E. coli cells were denatured in 3.5 M Gdn-HCl. Solubilized His-tagged scFv proteins were purified using Ni(2+)-Sepharose column chromatography in the presence of 3.5 M Gdn-HCl. Purified scFv proteins were refolded according to a previously published method of step-wise dialysis. Two anti-T-antigen scFv proteins, 1E6 and 1E8 that belong to Groups 1 and 2, respectively, were produced in sufficient amounts, thus allowing further characterization of their binding activity with T-antigen. Specificity and affinity constants determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR), respectively, provided evidence that both 1E8 and 1E6 scFv proteins are T-antigen specific and suggested that 1E8 scFv protein has a higher affinity for T-antigen than 1E6 scFv protein.