A novel system for the efficient generation of antibodies following immunization of unique knockout mouse strains

We wished to develop alternate production strategies to generate antibodies against traditionally problematic antigens. As a model we chose butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), involved in termination of cholinergic signaling, and widely considered as a poor immunogen.

Jettisoning traditional laborious in silico searching methods to define putative epitopes, we simply immunized available BChE knock-out mice with full-length recombinant BChE protein (having been produced for crystallographic analysis). Immunization with BChE, in practically any form (recombinant human or mouse BChE, BChE purified from human serum, native or denatured), resulted in strong immune responses. Native BChE produced antibodies that favored ELISA and immunostaining detection. Denatured and reduced BChE were more selective for antibodies specific in Western blots. Two especially sensitive monoclonal antibodies were found capable of detecting 0.25 ng of BChE within one min by ELISA. One is specific for human BChE; the other cross-reacts with mouse and rat BChE. Immunization of wild-type mice served as negative controls.

We examined a simple, fast, and highly efficient strategy to produce antibodies by mining two expanding databases: namely those of knock-out mice and 3D crystallographic protein-structure analysis. We conclude that the immunization of knock-out mice should be a strategy of choice for antibody production.