Everything You Want to Know About Antibody Development

Posted by Vivian creative on March 31st, 2021

Everything You Want to Know About Antibody Development 

When foreign molecules, which are known as antigens, enter our body, antibodies will be released by B cells of the immune system to specifically bind to the antigens and finally clear out those “invaders”. Such a highly specific molecular recognition mechanism has inspired a variety of antibody development research and diagnostic applications nowadays, including IVD antibody development.

What is Antibody Development?

Antibody development is the process of creating and characterizing an antibody.

The timeline of developing antibodies starts from the injection of an antigen of interest into a host animal, so that the host’s immune system can detect it and generate the desired antibodies. Then, antibody development proceeds with finding and isolating the desired antibodies from the rest of the protein in sera.

The reset procedure of antibody development is varied as the desired antibodies are different. For instance, scientists can directly purify polyclonal antibodies from serum, while hybridoma development or phage display library is required for monoclonal antibody development. 

It would take weeks for the whole development process, depending on the host species, immunogen, types of developed antibodies, etc.

Keys to Develop and Produce Desired Antibodies 

As for diverse specific research requirements, antibody development changes in the extent to production and purification. But there are common things to develop and produce antibodies successfully.

1. Make sure the target antigen is synthesized or purified.
2. Select an appropriate carrier protein.
3. Ensure the antigen and carrier protein conjugated to create the immunogen.
4. Immunize the host animals with adjuvant formula in a proper schedule.
5. Characterize antibodies by screening serum (or hybridoma) for antibody titer and isotype.

The primary goal of antibody development is to separate the best targeted antibody, which surely will consume time and energy. Therefore, it’s of vital importance to make sure every step is qualified, especially in antibody purification and characterization.

Antibody Purification

After being generated, antibodies need to be purified before they are practiced in western blotting, ELISA, and other applications. Antibody purification, which may cover exact antibodies from serum, ascites fluid, or culture supernatant of a hybridoma cell line, brings more precise results for different detection methods. The degree of purification varies from crude to highly specific in terms of the types of antibodies and strategies. 

Common methods include:

• Physicochemical fractionation
• Class-specific affinity
• Antigen-specific affinity

Application of Antibodies Development for In Vitro Diagnostics

You may be astonished that antibodies, as a natural protective protein, can be generated. What makes it even more attractive is in vitro diagnostic (IVD) antibodies. IVD antibodies play an important role in antibody-based kits or diagnostic assays which are usually applied to detect diseases, monitor therapeutics, ensure blood transfusion safety, recognize allergies, and other medical tests.

For instance, the application of IVD antibodies on immunology includes IVD immunoassays, which are developed to detect or quantify biomarkers of autoimmune diseases caused by autoimmune antibodies.

Most of the IVD kits in the market are used in the laboratory for research. Also, some others perform well in professional health care settings, and a few are used directly by consumers at home.

Common Types of Antibodies to Develop 

When looking for an antibody development service provider for your research, you may be wondering what kind of antibodies you can get, what are the differences, and which type of antibodies is better for your specific projects. Here are some common types for antibody development.

1. Monoclonal Antibody Development 

The hybridoma technology has greatly contributed to the applications of monoclonal antibodies in diagnostics and therapeutics.

Monoclonal antibodies are homogenous antibodies produced from single B cell cloning, which can detect a single epitope in an immunogen. All monoclonal antibodies start with polyclonal antibody libraries, but are later separated through selection or cloning processes. They are usually developed in rodent hosts, rabbits, camelids, etc. 

Monoclonal antibodies are used in the diagnosis of lymphoid and myeloid malignancies, tissue typing, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, radio immunoassay, serotyping of microorganisms, etc.

2. Polyclonal Antibody Development

Polyclonal antibodies are heterogeneous mixtures of antibodies produced from different B lymphocyte populations that can detect different epitopes in the same immunogen. They usually are produced by rabbits, but can also be produced in ungulates (sheep, goat, horse, etc.), rodents, and chickens, depending on the needs of the researchers.

Polyclonal antibodies can be used in the in vitro assays in many different formats to check for bacteria, viruses, and other antigens.

3. Antibody Pairs Development

Antibody pairs are two different antibodies against different epitopes or binding regions of the same target. An antibody pair contains a capture antibody and a detection antibody, which can be two monoclonals (mAb/mAb), two polyclonals (pAb/pAb), or a combination (mAb/pAb), therefore presenting great research potential.

There are other types of antibodies to develop in the case of specific research, including recombinant antibodies. In general, most service providers, such as Creative Biolabs, now conduct one-stop CRO services from antigen synthesis, research, development, and production, or even customized antibody development services, which greatly contribute to the development of antibody research.