Surrogate antibodies

Abstract

A unique type of combinatorial protein libraries has been constructed. These libraries are based on the pre-B cell receptor (pre-BCR). The pre-BCR is a protein that is produced during normal development of the antibody repertoire. Unlike that of canonical antibodies, the pre-BCR subunit is a trimer that is composed of an antibody heavy chain paired with two surrogate light chain (SLC) components. Combinatorial libraries based on these pre-BCR proteins in which diverse heavy chains are paired with a fixed SLC were expressed in mammalian, Escherichia coli, and phagemid systems. These libraries contain members that have nanomolar affinity for antigen. We term this type of antigen-binding protein a "surrobody" to distinguish it from the canonical antibody molecule. © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.