Chimeric rabbit/human Fab antibodies against the hepatitis Be-antigen and their potential applications in assays, characterization, and therapy.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection afflicts millions worldwide, causing cirrhosis and liver cancer. HBV e-antigen (HBeAg), a clinical marker for disease severity, is a soluble variant of the viral capsid protein. HBeAg is not required for viral replication but is implicated in establishing immune tolerance and chronic infection. The structure of recombinant e-antigen (rHBeAg) was recently determined, yet to date, the exact nature and quantitation of HBeAg still remain uncertain. Here, to further characterize HBeAg, we used phage display to produce a panel of chimeric rabbit/human monoclonal antibody fragments (both Fab and scFv) against rHBeAg. Several of the Fab/scFv, expressed in Escherichia coli, had unprecedentedly high binding affinities (K_d ∼10^-12 m

SUBMITTER: Zhuang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5633136 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature