Based upon the pre-
B cell receptor
The B-cell receptor (BCR) is a transmembrane protein on the surface of a B cell. A B-cell receptor is composed of a membrane-bound immunoglobulin molecule and a signal transduction moiety. The former forms a type 1 transmembrane receptor protein, ...
(pre-BCR), surrobodies are non-naturally occurring,
antibody
An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...
-like proteins with high affinity to their
antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response.
...
. The trimeric pre-BCR composes an antibody heavy chain paired with two surrogate light chain components. They have been generated for both therapeutic and research applications.
Xu ''et al'' have generated combinatorial libraries based on these pre-BCR proteins in which diverse heavy chains are paired with a fixed surrogate light chain components. These libraries have been expressed in
mammalian
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
,
Escherichia coli
''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...
, and
phagemid systems to generate proteins with high affinity to their target.
Surrobodies have been patented by
Sea Lane Biotechnologies in 2012.
References
{{reflist
Immune system