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Researchers from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publish findings in hepatitis A virus
2009 JUL 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- "Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a wide spread pathogenic agent and is the common cause of acute Hepatitis A worldwide. Passive immunization of HAV plays an extremely important role in post-exposure prophylaxis with clinical applications often requiring large amounts of antibody," researchers in Beijing, People's Republic of China report. "As an alternative to the in vitro production of recombinant proteins, expression of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in the milk of transgenic animals is currently used being associated with low production costs and high activity. In this paper, eight founder lines of transgenic mice were generated by co-microinjection of the two cassettes encoding the heavy- and light-chains of a neutralizing anti-HAV antibody, respectively. The expressed heavy- and light-chains of the mAb were correctly assembled and modified in the mammary gland as detected by western blotting. High expression levels of the antibody were achieved during the lactation period and found to be independent of the copy numbers of integrated transgenes. The highest level was up to 32.2 mg/ml. The binding specificity and neutralizing activity of the expressed mAb were assayed by ELISA and neutralizing test, showing that it is capable to neutralize the JN strain of Hepatitis A virus efficiently," wrote R. Zhang and colleagues, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers concluded: "Therefore, our results suggest that a large-scale and efficient production of the anti-HAV mAb in the milk of transgenic farm animals would be feasible in the future.." Zhang and colleagues published their study in Transgenic Research (Functional recombinant human anti-HAV antibody expressed in milk of transgenic mice. Transgenic Research, 2009;18(3):445-453). For additional information, contact M.F. Liang, China CDC, National Institute Viral Diseases Control & Prevention, State Key Laboratory Infectious Disease Control & Prevention, Beijing 100052, People's Republic of China. Publisher contact information for the journal Transgenic Research is: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. Keywords: People's Republic of China, Beijing, Acute Hepatitis, Biotechnology, Gastroenterology, HAV, Hepatitis A Virus, Hepatology, Infectious Disease, Medical Device, Monoclonal Antibody, Proteomics, Viral, Virology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This article was prepared by Biotech Business Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Biotech Business Week via NewsRx.com.
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