Detection elements play a key role in analyte recognition in biosensors. Therefore, detection elements with high analyte specificity and binding strength are required. While antibodies (Abs) have been increasingly used as detection elements in biosensors, a key challenge remains - the immobilization on the biosensor surface. This minireview highlights recent approaches to immobilize and study Abs on surfaces. We first introduce Ab species used as detection elements, and discuss techniques recently used to elucidate Ab orientation by determination of layer thickness or surface topology. Then, several immobilization methods will be presented: non-covalent and covalent surface attachment, yielding oriented or random coupled Abs. Finally, protein modification methods applicable for oriented Ab immobilization are reviewed with an eye to future application.

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Inhalational anthrax, a zoonotic disease caused by the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis spores, has a ϳ50% fatality rate even when treated with antibiotics. Pathogenesis is dependent on the activity of two toxic noncovalent complexes: edema toxin (EdTx) and lethal toxin (LeTx). Protective antigen (PA), an essential component of both complexes, binds with high affinity to the major receptor mediating the lethality of anthrax toxin in vivo, capillary morphogenesis protein 2 (CMG2). Certain antibodies against PA have been shown to protect against anthrax in vivo. As an alternative to anti-PA antibodies, we produced a fusion of the extracellular domain of human CMG2 and human IgG Fc, using both transient and stable tobacco plant expression systems. Optimized expression led to the CMG2-Fc fusion protein being produced at high levels: 730 mg/kg fresh leaf weight in Nicotiana benthamiana and 65 mg/kg in N. tabacum. CMG2-Fc, purified from tobacco plants, fully protected rabbits against a lethal challenge with B. anthracis spores at a dose of 2 mg/kg body weight administered at the time of challenge. Treatment with CMG2-Fc did not interfere with the development of the animals' own immunity to anthrax, as treated animals that survived an initial challenge also survived a rechallenge 30 days later. The glycosylation of the Fc (or lack thereof) had no significant effect on the protective potency of CMG2-Fc in rabbits or on its serum half-life, which was about 5 days. Significantly, CMG2-Fc effectively neutralized, in vitro, LeTx-containing mutant forms of PA that were not neutralized by anti-PA monoclonal antibodies.

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BackgroundRecombinant antibodies are powerful tools in engineering of novel diagnostics. Due to the small size and stable nature of llama antibody domains selected antibodies can serve as a detection reagent in multiplexed and sensitive assays for M. tuberculosis.Methodology/Principal FindingsAntibodies for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) recognition were raised in Alpaca, and, by phage display, recombinant variable domains of heavy-chain antibodies (VHH) binding to M. tuberculosis antigens were isolated. Two phage display selection strategies were followed: one direct selection using semi-purified protein antigen, and a depletion strategy with lysates, aiming to avoid cross-reaction to other mycobacteria. Both panning methods selected a set of binders with widely differing complementarity determining regions. Selected recombinant VHHs were produced in E. coli and shown to bind immobilized lysate in direct Enzymelinked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) tests and soluble antigen by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis. All tested VHHs were specific for tuberculosis-causing mycobacteria (M. tuberculosis, M. bovis) and exclusively recognized an immunodominant 16 kDa heat shock protein (hsp). The highest affinity VHH had a dissociation constant (KD) of 4×10−10 M.Conclusions/SignificanceA broad set of different llama antibodies specific for 16 kDa heat shock protein of M. tuberculosis is available. This protein is highly stable and abundant in M. tuberculosis. The VHH that detect this protein are applied in a robust SPR sensor for identification of tuberculosis-causing mycobacteria.