Chapter Twenty Six - Production of Human Monoclonal Antibodies using Mammalian Expression Systems

Abstract

Administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is recommended for all patients with category III exposure to rabies virus (RABV) and other lyssaviruses.1 A key component of PEP is rabies immune globulins (RIGs), which are obtained from rabies-immunized human or equine donors.5,6 Due to the limited supply of RIGs, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are being explored as an alternative in PEP. DNA recombinant technology has been developed to express and purify human MAb cocktails, which are as effective as RIGs,10 but can be produced in much larger quantities at a much smaller cost. This chapter describes the methodology of how to express MAbs in mammalian cell lines, how to purify MAbs via Protein A chromatography, and desalting with both manual and automated methods. Additionally, a variety of methods for how to verify the quality of the end product are also described.