Protein-protein interactions in hematology and phage display

Phage display, which exploits fundamental tools and principles of immune repertoire diversity, antigen-antibody interactions, and clonal and immunologic selection, is used increasingly to advance experimental and clinical hematology. Phage display is based on the ability of bacteriophage to present engineered proteins on their surface coat. Diverse libraries of proteins such as peptides, antibody fragments, and protein domains corresponding to gene fragments or cDNAs may be displayed. Interactions between phage-displayed proteins and target antigens can be identified rapidly and characterized using high throughput methodologies. Peptide and gene fragment libraries are particularly useful to characterize binding interactions between proteins, such as ligand-receptor interactions. This approach allows rapid generation of human antibodies, often against nonimmunogenic, conserved proteins. Phage antibodies against surface and intracellular antigens are used as reagents for flow cytometry, in vivo imaging, and therapeutic targeting. Phage-derived antibodies also facilitate analyses of the humoral antibody response. Finally, cellular delivery of phage-displayed peptides and gene fragments can be used to modulate functional pathways and molecules in vitro and in vivo. The combinatorial power of phage display enables identification of candidate epitopes without knowledge of the protein interaction, a priori. Overall, these capabilities provide a versatile, high-throughput approach to develop tools and reagents useful for a plethora of experimental hematology applications. This paper focuses on current and future applications of antibody and epitope phage display technology in hematology.