Polyclonal antibody production program dictated by customer's requirements

What kind(s) of antigen(s) can be injected?

Which species to choose?

Examples of chosen immunisation protocols performed at AgriSera

	Goat (IgG)	Rabbit (IgG)	Hen (IgY)
Time schedule [weeks]	14	14	11
Pre immune	5 ml serum	3 ml serum	up to 50 mg of total IgY
Immunisations	4	4	3
Antigen*[µg/immunisation]	20-500	20-500	20-500
Immune product	250 ml serum	80-130 ml serum	up to 0,4 g of purified, total IgY

* Lower doeses of antigen are also possible.

Screening of pre-immune serum and yolk is recommended in following cases:

• future work is going to be done on bacterial extracts
  
• future work is going to be done on extracts from maize, corn, wheat or other plants which are included in animal diet
  

In general it is good (if possible) to check that possible background singal is not detected in the molecular weight region of a protein under investigation. Important is a future signal to noise ratio.

Time schedule - first antibody sample can be delivered after 5-8 weeks from a first immunisation in the form of serum, egg yolk or purified immunoglobulins.

Antibody titre control - after third immunisation all serum or egg yolk samples are routinely checked for the presence of antigen specific antibodies using ELISA test. We can also help you to setup up your own ELISA assay.

EGGS:
Eggs from immunised hens will be routinely stored at AgriSera for two months after specific project is finished.

LARGE SCALE: AgriSera has the necessary knowledge and experience for a large scale antibody production in hens-IgY (grams to kilgorams of antibodies/year). Scale of production can fulfill demands of functional food projects.

Advantages of using both IgG (rabbit, goat) and IgY (hen) antibodies developed against the same antigen:

• independent confirmation that expected target protein is detected
  
• antibody pools with distinctive properties, complementing each other in different techniques
  
• double staining possible
  


AgriSera also recommends hens for antibody production in cases like:

• The antigen is a conserved mammalian protein.
  
• Interference in immunological assays needs to be avoided.
  
• Economic production of large amounts of antibodies (grams) is required.
  
• Antibody production failed using a mammalian system.

AgriSera has successfully produced antibodies in hens against antigens from plants, bacteria, Archea, insects, and mammals.


Confidentiality: All work done at AgriSera remains strictly confidential. If required project agreement can be signed.

Price estimates: for specific project are available on request.