Recombinant polyclonal antibody libraries

We describe a technology for generating recombinant polyclonal antibody lib raries (PCALs) that enables the creation and perpetuation of standardized m ixtures of polyclonal whole antibodies specific for a multiantigen (or poly antigen). Therefore, this technology combines the advantages of targeting m ultiple antigenic determinants - high avidity, low likelihood of antigen 'e scape variants', and efficient mediation of effector functions, with the ad vantages of using monoclonal antibodies - unlimited supply of standardized reagents and the availability of the genetic material for desired manipulat ions. The technology for generating recombinant polyclonal antibody librari es begins with the creation of phage display Fab (antibody) libraries. This is followed by selection of sublibraries with desired antigen specificitie s, and mass transfer of the variable region gene pairs of the selected subl ibraries to a mammalian expression vector for generation of Libraries of po lyclonal whole antibodies. We review here our experiments for selection of phage display antibody libraries against microbes and tumor cells, as well as the recent literature on the selection of phage display antibody librari es to multiantigen targets.