Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour20
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein
The antibody issue
Antibodies, immunoglobulins, are proteins that bind targets ('antigens'). They are produced in vertebrates against foreign microbes,
Figure 1: The structure of immunoglobulin
which is a function that have been utilized in research for decades. As mentioned in the introduction, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are frequently used for numerous purposes in research and in medical aspects.
Since 1975 where Kohler and Milstein initiated the current era of antibody production, by introducing the hybridoma technology, the applications have been continuously extended and mAbs have become an essential part in many aspects of research.
Reference:
Liu JK1 (2014) The history of monoclonal antibody development - Progress, remaining challenges and future innovations. Sep 11;3(4):113-6.
DOI: 10.1016/j.amsu.2014.09.001.
[PubMed]
The current traditional way of production is through mammalian cells. And even though mammalian cells have a lot of advantages, some drawbacks are often disregarded, such as being cumbersome and needy to work with. Foremost requirements for a system capable of making mAbs are high growth rate and high production yield. The demand is continuously growing and the production market is exponentially rising. In the end of 2014, 47 mAbs have been approved for treatment in US and Europe and this number is estimated to be ~70 in 2020, with a world-wide revenue at nearly $125 billion.
Reference:
Dawn M Ecker, Susan Dana Jones & Howard L Levine (2015) The therapeutic
monoclonal antibody market, mAbs, 7:1, 9-14,
DOI: 10.4161/19420862.2015.989042
[PubMed]
If you are eager to read more on this topic, please go to Antibody Production.
Figure 3: A peptide aptamer
Figure 2: A traditional antibody
We think it is very important to think about the cost effectiveness and not at least ethics. No doubt about the effectiveness of antibodies, but the cost is high. Despite strength control and legislation in Denmark an alternative to laboratory animals will always be preferable. Furthermore the search for alternatives to animals in research for decades implies that scientists too find the existing method controversial. Read our page Animal Ethics for more information about this.
Peptide aptamers are molecules consisting of a scaffold protein with a variable loop (Figure 2), which make them perfect in the search for an alternative to traditional antibodies (Figure 3). Since the variable part can function as the heavy and light chains of an antibody and the variable loop can function as the antigen binding region.
By manipulating Escherichia Coli into producing peptide aptamers many of the drawbacks by using mammalian cells will be minimized. Read more at The Alternative, later on in this chapter.