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Antibody Production in Silkworm Cells and Silkworm Larvae Infected with a Dual Recombinant Bombyx Mori Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus

Abstract

We have examined the efficiency of coexpression of two heterologous genes from a recombinant Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus for the production of antibodies in silkworm larvae. The cDNAs encoding the light and the heavy chains of a murine immunoglobulin, directed against lipoprotein I of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were brought under the control of two separate copies of the viral polyhedrin promotor. Infection of silkworm cells with the recombinant baculovirus yielded a maximum of 6.4 μg/ml IgG2A in the culture supernatant 72 hours post infection, while 800 μg/ml IgG2A was found in the hemolymph of infected fifth instar silkworm larvae seven days after infection with the same construct. The recombinant antibody exhibited a similar antigen specificity and avidity to that of the monoclonal antibody derived from ascites fluid.

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Reis, U., Blum, B., Specht, BU. et al. Antibody Production in Silkworm Cells and Silkworm Larvae Infected with a Dual Recombinant Bombyx Mori Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus. Nat Biotechnol 10, 910–912 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0892-910

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