Cerebrospinal fluid and serum glycosphingolipid biomarkers in canine globoid cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe Disease).

Globoid cell leukodystrophy (GLD, Krabbe disease, Krabbe's disease) is caused by genetic mutations in the gene encoding, galactosylceramidase (GALC). Deficiency of this enzyme results in central and peripheral nervous system pathology, and is characterized by loss of myelin and an infiltration of globoid cells. The canine model of GLD provides a translational model which faithfully recapitulates much of the human disease pathology.

Mammalian cell display and somatic hypermutation in vitro for human antibody discovery.

Human therapeutic antibody discovery has utilized a variety of systems, from in vivo immunization of human immunoglobulin-expressing mice, to in vitro display of antibody libraries. Of the in vitro antibody display technologies, mammalian cell display provides a number of advantages with the ability to co-select immunoglobulin molecules for high expression level in mammalian cells, native folding, and biophysical properties appropriate for drug development. Mammalian cell display has been achieved using either transient or stable expression systems, using a number of alternate transmembrane domains to present antibody on the cell surface.

Mammalian cell display for the discovery and optimization of antibody therapeutics.

Recent advances are described for the isolation and affinity maturation of antibodies that couple in vitro somatic hypermutation (SHM) with mammalian cell display, replicating key aspects of the adaptive immune system. SHM is dependent on the action of the B cell specific enzyme, activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). AID-directed SHM in vitro in non-B cells, combined with mammalian display of a library of human antibodies, initially naïve to SHM, can be used to isolate and affinity mature antibodies via iterative cycles of fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) under increasingly stringent sort conditions.

An integrated approach to extreme thermostabilization and affinity maturation of an antibody.

Antibodies are important tools for a broad range of applications due to their high specificity and ability to recognize virtually any target molecule. However, in order to be practically useful, antibodies must be highly stable and bind their target antigens with high affinity. We present a combinatorial approach to generate high-affinity, highly stable antibodies through the design of stable frameworks, specificity grafting and maturation via somatic hypermutation in vitro.

Coupling mammalian cell surface display with somatic hypermutation for the discovery and maturation of human antibodies.

A novel approach has been developed for the isolation and maturation of human antibodies that replicates key features of the adaptive immune system by coupling in vitro somatic hypermutation (SHM) with mammalian cell display. SHM is dependent on the action of the B cell specific enzyme, activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), and can be replicated in non-B cells through expression of recombinant AID. A library of human antibodies, based on germline V-gene segments with recombined human regions was used to isolate low-affinity antibodies to human β nerve growth factor (hβNGF).