{"id":{"repo_id":"dcu","oai_identifier":"oai:doras.dcu.ie:16584"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/dcu/oai:doras.dcu.ie:16584","repository":{"repo_id":"dcu","name":"Dublin City University","base_url":"http://doras.dcu.ie/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Production and characterisation of novel recombinant antibody fragments against sialic acid","abstract":"Sialic acids are a family of acidic monosaccharides that typically reside as terminal moieties on N- and O-linked glycans. These sugars are actively involved in a plethora of biological phenomena, ranging from cell-cell adhesion and recognition, intracellular signalling events, pathogen attack, viral infection and inflammatory disease. In addition, many cancer-related antigens contain terminal sialic acids or altered sialylation patterns. The identification of sialic acid-specific antibodies is important in the fields of basic research and diagnostics. Therefore the primary objective of this thesis was the generation and characterisation of recombinant antisialic acid antibodies.A single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) library was constructed from a chicken that was immunised with a novel synthetic sialic acid protein-conjugate (Neu5Gchumanserum albumin). The scFv library was biopanned using a second novel sialoneoglycoconjugate(Neu5Gc-bovine serum albumin). Anti-sialic scFvs were isolated byphage-display and binding activity, multimeric status, and multivalent properties wereassessed by ELISA, HPLC, FPLC, and SPR. One clone, AE8, displayed the strongest reactivity to a panel of different sialylated structures. In addition, SPR inhibition andkinetic analysis revealed that the AE8 scFv had nanomolar affinity for the Neu5Gc-BSA neoglycoconjugate. The heavy chain gene of the AE8 scFv was assembled with a repertoire of error prone PCR-amplified light chain genes, that originated from the unpanned anti-sialic acid library. The mutant scFv library was biopanned using a depletion protocol and two ovalbumin (OVA) conjugates, Neu5Gc-linker1-OVA and linker1-OVA. ELISA analysis, SPR inhibition and ‘off-rate’ studies identified one mutant clone, E15, which displayed strong affinity for conjugates of sialic acid. A solution-phase SPR-based inhibition study demonstrated that the E15 scFv had an IC50 concentration of 1.6ng/mL for the Neu5Gc-BSA conjugate. When compared to the parental AE8 clone (IC50 of 5.7ng/mL) the mutant E15 scFv exhibited an improvement in sialic acid binding of approximately 3.5-fold. The generation of such highly specific anti-sialic acid antibodies in a recombinant format is exceedingly rare. Most anti-carbohydrate antibodies are not recombinant and display weak carbohydrate-protein interactions. This work shows for the first time, the generation and directed evolution of anti-carbohydrate scFvs that have nanomolar affinity for Neu5Gc-containing structures.","abstract_html":"Sialic acids are a family of acidic monosaccharides that typically reside as terminal moieties on N- and O-linked glycans. These sugars are actively involved in a plethora of biological phenomena, ranging from cell-cell adhesion and recognition, intracellular signalling events, pathogen attack, viral infection and inflammatory disease. In addition, many cancer-related antigens contain terminal sialic acids or altered sialylation patterns. The identification of sialic acid-specific antibodies is important in the fields of basic research and diagnostics. Therefore the primary objective of this thesis was the generation and characterisation of recombinant antisialic acid antibodies.A single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) library was constructed from a chicken that was immunised with a novel synthetic sialic acid protein-conjugate (Neu5Gchumanserum albumin). The scFv library was biopanned using a second novel sialoneoglycoconjugate(Neu5Gc-bovine serum albumin). Anti-sialic scFvs were isolated byphage-display and binding activity, multimeric status, and multivalent properties wereassessed by ELISA, HPLC, FPLC, and SPR. One clone, AE8, displayed the strongest reactivity to a panel of different sialylated structures. In addition, SPR inhibition andkinetic analysis revealed that the AE8 scFv had nanomolar affinity for the Neu5Gc-BSA neoglycoconjugate. The heavy chain gene of the AE8 scFv was assembled with a repertoire of error prone PCR-amplified light chain genes, that originated from the unpanned anti-sialic acid library. The mutant scFv library was biopanned using a depletion protocol and two ovalbumin (OVA) conjugates, Neu5Gc-linker1-OVA and linker1-OVA. ELISA analysis, SPR inhibition and ‘off-rate’ studies identified one mutant clone, E15, which displayed strong affinity for conjugates of sialic acid. A solution-phase SPR-based inhibition study demonstrated that the E15 scFv had an IC50 concentration of 1.6ng/mL for the Neu5Gc-BSA conjugate. When compared to the parental AE8 clone (IC50 of 5.7ng/mL) the mutant E15 scFv exhibited an improvement in sialic acid binding of approximately 3.5-fold. The generation of such highly specific anti-sialic acid antibodies in a recombinant format is exceedingly rare. Most anti-carbohydrate antibodies are not recombinant and display weak carbohydrate-protein interactions. This work shows for the first time, the generation and directed evolution of anti-carbohydrate scFvs that have nanomolar affinity for Neu5Gc-containing structures.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Donohoe, Gerard Gary"],"institution":"Dublin City University","degree_name":"phd","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-11","date_published":"2011-11","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:26:27Z","subjects":["Biotechnology"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Donohoe, Gerard Gary"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2011-11"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Dublin City University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://doras.dcu.ie/16584/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["phd"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Biotechnology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://doras.dcu.ie/16584/1/GD-final_thesis_for_sub.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Sialic acids are a family of acidic monosaccharides that typically reside as terminal moieties on N- and O-linked glycans. These sugars are actively involved in a plethora of biological phenomena, ranging from cell-cell adhesion and recognition, intracellular signalling events, pathogen attack, viral infection and inflammatory disease. In addition, many cancer-related antigens contain terminal sialic acids or altered sialylation patterns. The identification of sialic acid-specific antibodies is important in the fields of basic research and diagnostics. Therefore the primary objective of this thesis was the generation and characterisation of recombinant antisialic acid antibodies.A single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) library was constructed from a chicken that was immunised with a novel synthetic sialic acid protein-conjugate (Neu5Gchumanserum albumin). The scFv library was biopanned using a second novel sialoneoglycoconjugate(Neu5Gc-bovine serum albumin). Anti-sialic scFvs were isolated byphage-display and binding activity, multimeric status, and multivalent properties wereassessed by ELISA, HPLC, FPLC, and SPR. One clone, AE8, displayed the strongest reactivity to a panel of different sialylated structures. In addition, SPR inhibition andkinetic analysis revealed that the AE8 scFv had nanomolar affinity for the Neu5Gc-BSA neoglycoconjugate. The heavy chain gene of the AE8 scFv was assembled with a repertoire of error prone PCR-amplified light chain genes, that originated from the unpanned anti-sialic acid library. The mutant scFv library was biopanned using a depletion protocol and two ovalbumin (OVA) conjugates, Neu5Gc-linker1-OVA and linker1-OVA. ELISA analysis, SPR inhibition and ‘off-rate’ studies identified one mutant clone, E15, which displayed strong affinity for conjugates of sialic acid. A solution-phase SPR-based inhibition study demonstrated that the E15 scFv had an IC50 concentration of 1.6ng/mL for the Neu5Gc-BSA conjugate. When compared to the parental AE8 clone (IC50 of 5.7ng/mL) the mutant E15 scFv exhibited an improvement in sialic acid binding of approximately 3.5-fold. The generation of such highly specific anti-sialic acid antibodies in a recombinant format is exceedingly rare. Most anti-carbohydrate antibodies are not recombinant and display weak carbohydrate-protein interactions. This work shows for the first time, the generation and directed evolution of anti-carbohydrate scFvs that have nanomolar affinity for Neu5Gc-containing structures."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Production and characterisation of novel recombinant antibody fragments against sialic acid"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Donohoe, Gerard Gary"],"dc:date":["2011-11"],"dc:date.issued":["2011-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["Sialic acids are a family of acidic monosaccharides that typically reside as terminal moieties on N- and O-linked glycans. These sugars are actively involved in a plethora of biological phenomena, ranging from cell-cell adhesion and recognition, intracellular signalling events, pathogen attack, viral infection and inflammatory disease. In addition, many cancer-related antigens contain terminal sialic acids or altered sialylation patterns. The identification of sialic acid-specific antibodies is important in the fields of basic research and diagnostics. Therefore the primary objective of this thesis was the generation and characterisation of recombinant antisialic acid antibodies.A single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) library was constructed from a chicken that was immunised with a novel synthetic sialic acid protein-conjugate (Neu5Gchumanserum albumin). The scFv library was biopanned using a second novel sialoneoglycoconjugate(Neu5Gc-bovine serum albumin). Anti-sialic scFvs were isolated byphage-display and binding activity, multimeric status, and multivalent properties wereassessed by ELISA, HPLC, FPLC, and SPR. One clone, AE8, displayed the strongest reactivity to a panel of different sialylated structures. In addition, SPR inhibition andkinetic analysis revealed that the AE8 scFv had nanomolar affinity for the Neu5Gc-BSA neoglycoconjugate. The heavy chain gene of the AE8 scFv was assembled with a repertoire of error prone PCR-amplified light chain genes, that originated from the unpanned anti-sialic acid library. The mutant scFv library was biopanned using a depletion protocol and two ovalbumin (OVA) conjugates, Neu5Gc-linker1-OVA and linker1-OVA. ELISA analysis, SPR inhibition and ‘off-rate’ studies identified one mutant clone, E15, which displayed strong affinity for conjugates of sialic acid. A solution-phase SPR-based inhibition study demonstrated that the E15 scFv had an IC50 concentration of 1.6ng/mL for the Neu5Gc-BSA conjugate. When compared to the parental AE8 clone (IC50 of 5.7ng/mL) the mutant E15 scFv exhibited an improvement in sialic acid binding of approximately 3.5-fold. The generation of such highly specific anti-sialic acid antibodies in a recombinant format is exceedingly rare. Most anti-carbohydrate antibodies are not recombinant and display weak carbohydrate-protein interactions. This work shows for the first time, the generation and directed evolution of anti-carbohydrate scFvs that have nanomolar affinity for Neu5Gc-containing structures."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://doras.dcu.ie/16584/1/GD-final_thesis_for_sub.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Dublin City University"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://doras.dcu.ie/16584/"],"dc:subject":["Biotechnology"],"dc:title":["Production and characterisation of novel recombinant antibody fragments against sialic acid"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["phd"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:26:27Z"}