Surface display vectors for selective detection and isolation of high level antibody producing cells.

Cell line generation for production of biopharmaceuticals in mammalian cells usually involves intensive screening of clones to identify the rare high producers. In order to facilitate efficient and selective fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) based enrichment and cloning of antibody producing CHO cells, we developed a special vector setup by inserting a leaky translation termination signal between the heavy chain of an IgG antibody and an IgG transmembrane domain. Partial read-through during translation of the antibody heavy chain leads to display of a subset of the produced antibody on the surface of the expressing cell.