antibody production-ascites vs culture

[Kiley R. Prilliman]

Hi,

I honestly don't understand why there would be a switch from hollow-fiber technology
to ascites fro MAb production; in working with and comparing the two, I personally
have always been a big fan of the hollow-fiber approach: you can get TONS of MAb if
you desire (for example, last March through May I was able to produce 2 *grams* of
an antibody I needed a LOT of for large-scale immunoaffinity purification purposes),
and the MAb-containing harvests you obtain from hollow-fiber cell culture systems is
really "clean" to deal with...

Just my two cents (and no, I'm not affiliated with a hollow-fiber bioreactor systems
company, I'm just a grad student!)...

Kiley R. Prilliman
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

phone: 405-271-1203
  fax: 405-271-3117

mark wrote:

> tfc2 at Lehigh.EDU wrote:
>
> > I'm interested in your thoughts and opinions on the pros and cons of using
> > ascites vs cell culture for antibody production.  We have used hollow fiber AB
>  > production in the past but there is a move in the company toward ascites.
>  I
> > am not comfortable with this change and hope to understand the reasons for this
> > decision a little better, with your help.
>
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Theresa
>
> Theresa, HI  I don't know the exact yield comparisons between the two
> techniques, I presume that the ascites approach give higher yields.  The cost
> is certainly related to animal costs.  Are you questioning the technique's
> ability to produce ab or the 'means-to-an-end'?