Production of Neutralizing Antibody

Techniques employing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are widely used in the initial development phase of biologics. The usefulness of mAbs in basic RA research has been established based on their characteristics, including specificity of binding, homogeneity, and ability to be produced on a large scale. MAb immunoglobulins are the starting material for the generation of smaller antibody fragments and other engineered immunomodulatory antibodies. In this chapter, the basic hybridoma technique, which is a well-established and feasible method for the production of mAbs involving animal immunization, cell fusion, hybridoma screening, expanding positive hybridomas, and purification, is introduced. Aiming at specific affinity to a membrane protein, synthetic proteoliposomes are used in the immunization and screening steps.