Expression, characterization and therapeutic efficacy of chimeric Fab of anti-idiotypic antibody NP30 against Schistosoma japonicum.

The murine monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody NP30 is a promising therapeutic antibody against Schistosoma japonicum. However, the immunogenicity of murine NP30 limits its further study and application in humans. Here the chimeric Fab of NP30 (chFab-NP30) comprising the variable regions of murine NP30 and constant regions of human antibody was assembled. chFab-NP30 was expressed and purified as a soluble and functional protein. Administration of chFab-NP30 in vivo increased the survival rate, reduced egg burdens and ameliorated organ pathology of mice with acute schistosomiasis. Our study indicated that chFab-NP30 is a promising candidate to be used as a specific and efficient recombinant antibody against acute schistosomiasis japonica. Further studies on function mechanism of chFab-NP30 needs to be carried out in the future.