Antibodies are essential for the development of medical and biological research. However, the antibody industry has been in a constant reproducibility crisis since early 2015. One of the key reasons for this is the improper characterization of primary products available in the market concerning antibodies. The health research industry is filled with discordant validation data on the subject of reactivity, sensitivity, and specificity of various antibodies against antigens. There are no methods present with the vendors or manufacturers to get clear-cut quality assurance for authenticating the antibiotic products they bought. All they have is DNA sequencing with which they can test a small number of assays.
This unreliable data validation may cost researchers money, time, and in many cases, their whole projects as well. However, this situation can be safeguarded, if the researchers test antibodies used by them before they start their experiments. They can either ask vendors for methods to verify antibody products or utilize recombinant antibodies.
Recombinant antibodies are antibodies with a unique sequence. This sequence has been integrated into a piece of DNA to be used by mammalian or bacterial cells. It is enabling them to constantly produce the same antibodies that are a replica of each other. This technology is based on nature’s biological processes and proofreading abilities and so generates reliable antibodies.
Conventionally, the production of antibody products is affected by the variability that comes with every batch. This difference usually occurs due to the loss of antibody-producing cell lines called a hybridoma. It is because the antibody function comes from the continuous proliferation of hybridoma cell lines. If these cell lines are accidentally lost, it would be vastly injurious as it may lead to loss of genetic material. This loss would mean that there would be no coding sequence with which to produce antibody products.
This problem can be solved with the help of protein sequencing, which is based on mass Spectrometry (MS)-This brings forward a new use of mass spectrometry, which may enhance the Mass Spectrometry Market. Still, if a small sample of antibody remains, Mass Spectrometry can revitalize the antibody by extracting the sample's amino acid code. It can be used to determine the DNA sequence, in turn reviving the antibody for storage and future use. The team has successfully used its Mass Spectrometry tools for inspecting mAbs before assays development.
In addition to protein sequencing, mass spectrometry can also be used to produce data on protein alterations such as glycosylation (addition of sugar groups to a protein) that are distinctive to the target antibody and essential for antibody function, stability, and structure. Mass Spectrometry can be utilized to pinpoint the precise location of sugar groups that are inclined to amass inside the antigen connecting region of antibodies. The exact location of sugar groups can be particularly difficult to assess through means other than mass spectrometry.
Through their mass spectrometry studies, the researchers have completely exploited DNA sequencing information to generate databases that can identify antibodies. They have also shown that protein sequencing is at par with DNA sequencing and can fill in gaps when DNA sequencing data is unavailable or lost. Moreover, in contrast with other biophysical techniques, mass spectrometry can make additional information available to scientists about characteristics of antibody structure, their binding strength, and other properties as well.