Mammalian cell expression of single-chain Fv (sFv) antibody proteins and their C-terminal fusions with interleukin-2 and other effector domains.

The production of several single-chain Fv (sFv) antibody proteins was examined by three modes of mammalian cell expression. Our primary model was the 741F8 anti-c-erbB-2 sFv, assembled as either the VH-VL or VL-VH, and expressed alone, with C-terminal cysteine for dimerization, or as fusion proteins with carboxyl-terminal effector domains, including interleukin-2, the B domain of staphylococcal protein A, the S-peptide of ribonuclease S, or hexa-histidine metal chelate peptide. Constructs were expressed and secreted transiently in 293 cells and stably in CHO or Sp2/0 cell lines, the latter yielding up to 10 mg per liter. Single-chain constructs of MOPC 315 myeloma and 26-10 monoclonal antibodies were also expressed, as were hybrids comprising unrelated VH and VL regions. Our results suggest that mammalian expression is a practical and valuable complement to the bacterial expression of single-chain antibodies.