Abstract
The ability to refine the affinity, specificity, and immunogenicity of recombinant antibodies (Abs) offers distinct advantages for the preparation of in vivo diagnostic and therapeutic immunoreagents. The bacterial expression vector pComb3 allows production of recombinant Ab Fabs (rFab) (1). Light-chain (LC) and heavy-chain (HC) Ab cDNA fragments are inserted separately into this vector, which produces heterodimeric rFab Abs that are isolated in a native form. Fabs generated with the pComb3 expression vector are documented to bind Ag with affinities similar to that of the parental hybridoma-generated Fab (2). In the plasmid, both chains are independently controlled by isopropyl-1-β-D-thioglactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible lac expression. The original pComb3 vector allows for the display of rFabs on the surface of M13 filamentous phage and can be converted to produce rFabs in a soluble form. We have modified this vector to allow the expression and purification of soluble Fab Ab fragments using immobilized metal-affinity chromatography via a pentahistidine (His) tag fused to the HC constant region 1 Fig. 1; 2). A similar modification to pComb3 (pComb3x) designed exclusively for the expression of soluble rFabs has been performed by Barbas at the Scripps Research Institute (see Note 1).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barbas, C. F., Kang, A. S., Lerner, R. A., and Benkovic, S. J. (1991) Assembly of combinatorial antibody libraries on phage surfaces: the gene III site. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7978–7982.
Raffaï, R., Vukmirica, J., Weisgraber, K. H., Rassart, E., Innerarity, T. I., and Milne, R. (1999) Bacterial expression and purification of the Fab fragment of a monoclonal antibody specific for the low density lipoprotein receptor-binding site of human apolipoprotein E. Protein Exp. Purif. 16, 84–90.
Huse, W. D., Sastry, L., Iverson, S. A., Kang, A. S., Alting-Mees, M., Burton, D. R., Benkovic, S. J., and Lerner, R. A. (1989) Generation of a large combinatorial library of the immunoglobulin repertoire in phage lambda. Science 246, 1275–1281.
Bothmann, H. and Plückthun, A. (1998) Selection for a periplasmic factor improving phage display and functional periplasmic expression. Nature Biotechnol. 16, 376–380.
Kipriyanov, S. M., Moldenhauer, G., and Little, M. (1997) High level production of soluble single chain antibodies in small-scale Escherichia coli cultures. J. Immunol. Methods 200, 69–77.
Raffaï, R., Weisgraber, K. H., MacKenzie, R., Rupp, B., Rassart, E., Hirama, T., Innerarity, T. L., and Milne, R. (2000) Binding of an antibody mimetic of the human low density lipoprotein receptor to apolipoprotein E is governed through electrostatic forces. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 7109–7116.
Forsberg, G., Forsgren, M., Jaki, M., Norin, M., Sterky, C., Enhörning, Å., et al. (1997) Identification of framework residues in a secreted recombinant antibody fragment that control production level and localization in Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 272, 12, 430–12, 436.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Humana Press Inc.
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Raffa, R.L. (2002). Periplasmic Expression and Purification of Recombinant Fabs. In: O’Brien, P.M., Aitken, R. (eds) Antibody Phage Display. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 178. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-240-6:343
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-240-6:343
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-906-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-240-1
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols