Antibody Engineering

For antibody engineering we are able to conduct projects involving many forms of recombinant antibody gene manipulation. These include V region discovery and sequencing, isotype switching, discovery of enhanced binding variants through in vitro affinity maturation, and fully integrated work packages involving "humanisation", production cell line development and delivery of quantities of purified antibody.

Our team of scientists has worked on over 40 therapeutic antibody candidates for a variety of sponsors and has amassed a significant track record of delivery and success. Antibodies and other proteins have been engineered using a variety of immunogenicity evaluation strategies, including DeImmunisation® technology, of which members of our team are co-inventors. Some of these antibodies have advanced into clinical development.

Our Antibody Engineering Services are fully modular and can be integrated with expression Cell Line Development and Immunogenicity Profiling projects.

Key competencies:

• Expression vector assembly. For projects requiring expression of full antibody molecules, the Accurobio™ pAccAB vector system comprises immunoglobulin genes assembled from genomic DNA. Antibody heavy and light chains are carried in the same plasmid driven by separate high expression promoters. Expression vectors may be compiled to enable expression using alternative selection schemes and provide a choice of constant region isotypes.

• Antibody V-region sequencing. V-region discovery is a critical step in the commencement of an antibody engineering project and in itself leads to new intellectual property. Accuro Biologics has extensive experience in identifying the true V-region sequence from monoclonal antibody producing cell lines such as hybridomas. Our programmes routinely include reconstitution of the V-region genes with constant regions of choice followed by expression and function testing of the recombinant antibody.

  Capture of the correct V-region sequences from a starting hybridoma can lead to a number of project outcomes depending on the study objectives. These may include the development of a lead therapeutic candidate with enhanced properties, or a research antibody configured with a more optimal constant region.

• Chimeric antibodies. We have experience in constructing and expressing antibodies of a variety of isotypes, including modified constant regions.

• AccuroBio™ humanisation is a cost effective approach to undertaking antibody "humanisation". Working from V-region sequences our design process includes epitope avoidance strategies and focuses on producing a lead antibody with maximal retained functional activity. Projects are typically completed in less than 6 months and are provided with a fully documented and comprehensive deliverables package that includes an intermediate chimeric antibody, stable research cell lines and quantities of purified antibody.

See also: Protein Engineering | Cell Line Development | Immunogenicity Profiling

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