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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Generation of Discriminative Human Monoclonal Antibodies from Rare Antigen-specific B Cells Circulating in Blood
Published on: February 6, 2018
Antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies isolated from B cells expressing constitutively active STAT5
Ferenc A Scheeren1, Caroline M M van Geelen, Etsuko Yasuda
1Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Background:
Fully human monoclonal antibodies directed against specific pathogens have a high therapeutic potential, but are difficult to generate.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
Memory B cells were immortalized by expressing an inducible active mutant of the transcription factor Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 5 (STAT5). Active STAT5 inhibits the differentiation of B cells while increasing their replicative life span. We obtained cloned B cell lines, which produced antibodies in the presence of interleukin 21 after turning off STAT5. We used this method to obtain monoclonal antibodies against the model antigen tetanus toxin.
Conclusions/Significance:
Here we describe a novel and relatively simple method of immortalizing antigen-specific human B cells for isolation of human monoclonal antibodies. These results show that STAT5 overexpression can be employed to isolate antigen specific antibodies from human memory B cells.
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