HUMAN MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES AGAINST A PLETHORA OF VIRAL PATHOGENS FROM SINGLE COMBINATORIAL LIBRARIES

Conventional antibody generation usually requires active immunization with antigen immediately prior to the preparation procedure. Combinato rial antibody library technology offers the possibility of cloning a r ange of antibody specificities at a single point in time and then acce ssing these specificities at will. Here we show that human monoclonal antibody Fab fragments against a plethora of infectious agents can be readily derived from a single library. Further examination of a number of libraries shows that whenever antibody against a pathogen can be d etected in the serum of the donor, then specific antibodies can be der ived from the corresponding library. We describe the generation of hum an Fab fragments against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, human cyt omegalovirus, varicella zoster virus, rubella, human immunodeficiency virus type 1, and respiratory syncytial virus. The antibodies are show n to be highly specific and a number are effective in neutralizing vir us in vitro.