Generation and Selection of Phage Display Antibody Libraries in Fab Format

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have exceptional utility as research reagents and pharmaceuticals. As a complement to both traditional and contemporary single-B-cell cloning technologies, the mining of antibody libraries via display technologies—which mimic and simplify B cells by physically linking phenotype (protein) to genotype (protein-encoding DNA or RNA)—has become an important method for mAb discovery. Among these display technologies, phage display has been particularly successful for the generation of mAbs that bind to a wide variety of antigens with exceptional specificities and affinities. Rather than multivalent whole antibodies, phage display typically uses monovalent antibody fragments, such as “fragment antigen binding” (Fab), as the format of choice. The ∼50-kDa Fab format consists of four immunoglobulin (Ig) domains on two polypeptide chains (light chain and shortened heavy chain), and exhibits its antigen binding site in a natural configuration found in bivalent IgG and other multivalent Ig molecules. The Fab fragment has a high melting temperature and a low tendency to aggregate, and can be readily converted to natural and nonnatural Ig formats without affecting antigen binding properties, which has made it a favored format for phage display for more than three decades. Here, I briefly summarize some of the approaches used for the generation and selection of phage display antibody libraries in Fab format, from human and nonhuman antibody repertoires.