Induction of antibodies against membrane proteins by spleen immunization with antigen-loading liposomes

Hidenori Ando – Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University; Shunto Yamamoto – Student, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University; Haruki Tanaka – Student, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University; Haruka Takata – Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University; Shingo Kobayashi – Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University; Tatsuhiro Ishida – Professor, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University

Introduction: In recent years, the market for antibody therapeutics has expanded. Nevertheless, conventional subcutaneous (s.c.) immunization, which is commonly used in experimental animals, has difficulty in the induction of antibodies recognizing membrane proteins (MPs) that exposed to the cell membrane. We have previously reported a unique spleen immunization technique using PEGylated liposomes (PEG-Lip) as an antigen delivery carrier for acquiring diversified antigen-specific antibodies that cannot be induced by s.c. immunization [1,2]. In this study, we aimed to generate mAbs that recognize MPs that preserve the structural integrity of live cells by applying our spleen immunization technique.