Production of recombinant antibodies in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells.

One of the major bottlenecks in antibody discovery for research and therapeutic applications is the need for large quantities of protein in a short amount of time. Here we describe an alternative method using the Drosophila melanogaster S2 expression system to produce high levels of antibodies (both IgG and Fab) with equivalent binding properties to antibodies produced in mammalian cell expression systems. Using the Drosophila S2 expression system for antibody production has many advantages over current mammalian systems making antibody expression, purification, and evaluation a much less time-consuming process.