Antibody and T cell receptor library creation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The cloning of DNA encoding human antibody and T cell receptor (TCR) genes
IRAS ID
209099
Contact name
Susan Chapple
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
IONTAS Ltd
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
This project aims to create a large antibody or T cell receptor (TCR) library that will become a resource for selection of unique clones specific to various targets that may provide lead candidate molecules for use to treat cancer or diseases associated with chronic inflammation including arthritis. Antibodies are increasingly being employed as therapeutic medicines to treat cancer and auto-immune diseases and there are currently 36 antibodies approved for clinical use. Blood cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs), containing B and T lymphocytes, will be isolated from waste products of routine blood donations provided by healthy adults to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). As part of the donation process, blood donors are asked to consent to the possibility that part, or all, of their donation may be used for research. PBMCs will also be isolated from commercial blood sources (buffy coats or whole blood) where the supplier has obtained similar consent from donors. All blood products are supplied to IONTAS within 24 hours of blood draw. IONTAS will use the PBMCs, or tonsil tissue where permission has been granted, to isolate complementary DNA (cDNA) from which antibody and TCR genes will be isolated and cloned as described previously (Schofield et al, Genome Biology, 2007, 8:R254). Up to 50 donor blood samples will be used for the project and the donor samples will be anonymized and mixed to create the libraries. In addition, tonsil tissue from two anonymized donors will be used for ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction as an additional source of antibody genes as described previously (Schofield et al, Genome Biology, 2007, 8:R254).
REC name
London - Harrow Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1219
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion