Efficient Acquisition of Fully Human Antibody Genes against Self-Proteins by Sorting Single B Cells Stimulated with Vaccines Based on Nitrated T Helper Cell Epitopes.

In this study, we constructed a nitrated T-cell epitope named NitraTh by incorporating p-nitrophenylalanine into a universal T helper epitope. NitraTh had enhanced ability to activate CD4+ T cells and can be recognized by CD4+ T cells with different HLA class II haplotypes. This NitraTh can also break immune tolerance to autoantigens, such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and cannabinoid receptor 1, and induce strong specific IgM+ B cell responses in vitro. HER2-NitraTh vaccine can also stimulate the generation of HER2-specific IgG+ B cells in human immune system mice, which was established by cotransplanting lymphocytes and autologous dendritic cells in immunodeficient mice. We obtained 30 fully human IgG antibody genes by sorting single B cells from the human immune system mice immunized with HER2-NitraTh vaccine. The analysis of antibody genes showed that sorted B cells underwent the extensive somatic mutation of the antibody genes. We randomly selected eight genes for cloning, six of which expressed antibodies that can bind to HER2. Hence, we provided a convenient and effective method in acquiring fully human antibody genes against self-proteins, which can be used in developing therapeutic antibody drugs. PMID: 32083142 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Journal of Immunology Research - Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: J Immunol Res Source Type: research