Evaluation of a glucose sensing antibody using weak affinity chromatography

Continuous monitoring of drug levels and endogenous molecules in biological fluids is a developing research area with many applications. One example is the need to improve life for millions of diabetes mellitus patients by continuously monitoring the glucose level. In order to have a dynamic response, the recognition molecule in a continuous sensor should preferentially have a fast dissociation rate and a dissociation constant in the millimolar range. We have evaluated the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 3F1E8-A2 for its potential to be used in a future glucose sensor application. The mAb was generated from hybridomas by immunizing mice with 10 kDa dextran (an alpha1,6-glucose polymer) with the aim of obtaining mAbs that can recognize the glucose monomer. The mAb was immobilized to macroporous silica and the interaction with dextran-derived oligosaccharides was evaluated with weak affinity chromatography (WAC). To measure the low affinities between the mAb 3F1E8-A2 and different monosaccharides, a competitive weak affinity chromatography approach was employed. It was found that the mAb had a higher specificity for glucose compared with other monosaccharides and the dissociation constant (K(d)) towards glucose was determined as 18.8 +/- 2.6 mm.