AFFINITY OF ANTIBODIES TO MUC1 ANTIGENS

The binding affinity of a monoclonal antibody to its ligand has been o ften used as a qualitative and quantitative measure for the specificit y of the antibody, The aim of this paper was to assess the affinity of binding to recombinant and synthetic MUC1 peptides of 52 monoclonal a ntibodies as part of the ISOBM TD-4 Workshop, Affinity of binding was assessed using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor (BIAcore). The mo noclonal antibodies exhibited variable affinity to MUC1 peptides, and overall 25/52 antibodies showed significant binding to the test peptid es with affinities ranging from 2.4 x 10(6) to 3.1 x 10(8) M-1. Affini ties calculated by analysis of kinetic biosensor data agreed well with affinities determined by equilibrium binding analysis of radiolabelle d antibodies, The affinity measurements may provide help when determin ing the use of various monoclonals in tumour biology research.