Efficient, cost-effective isolation of functional antigen specific antibodies using Nanovial technology

Abstract

Abstract The therapeutic application of monoclonal antibodies has been invaluable in improving the quality of life for countless patients across numerous indications. Despite advances in streamlining the process, enhanced screening methods still necessitate substantial investments in equipment, reagents, and training. To address this gap, we have developed a workflow utilizing Nanovials, hydrogel nanoliter containers, to enable the discovery of functional antibodies from single cells with a simple workflow without any new equipment or protracted hands-on assay steps. We demonstrate this workflow using a hybridoma producing anti-Hen egg lysozyme (HEL) antibodies. As a proxy for rare “on target” cells, HEL hybridoma was spiked into a non-antigen specific hybridoma at known percentages and functional, HEL specific clones were enriched and isolated with a Nanovial assay. Nanovials specifically enrich the target antigen specific secreting cells at concentrations as low as 1% and isolate desired clones by sorting. Further improving the functional screening capabilities without lengthening the assay, multi-cell Nanovial assays were performed combining a target antibody secreting cell and reporter cell to specifically sort cells based on antibody binding or pathway modulation. By providing increased functional assay capabilities while reducing the time and material needed to isolate functional, antigen specific antibodies, Nanovials enable the rapid discovery of potent antibody therapeutics.