areta develops new, rapid and reliable methods and technologies to produce molecules and cells for diagnosis as well as for therapy (monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies recombinant proteins, cells, diagnostic kits). Monoclonal antibodies are obtained using different protocols of immunization, somatic fusion, selective hybridomas screening and purification showing the desired affinity with the antigen and the appropriate characteristics for in vitro and in vivo use. areta has its own portfolio of monoclonal antibodies and related hybridoma clones specific for non conventional antigens.

Monoclonals detect one epitope only on any one antigen which has the following advantages:

• Monoclonals usually have less background from staining of sections and cells. As they are more specifically detecting one target epitope, they are less likely to cross-react with other proteins
• Because of their specificity, monoclonal antibodies are excellent as the primary antibody in an assay, or for detecting antigens in tissue, and will often give significantly less background staining than polyclonal antibodies
• Compared to polyclonal antibodies, homogeneity of monoclonal antibodies is very high. If experimental conditions are kept constant, results from monoclonal antibodies will be highly reproducible between experiments
• Specificity of monoclonal antibodies makes them extremely efficient for binding of antigen within a mixture of related molecules, such as in the case of affinity purification

areta can generate new customized antibodies or produce them starting from your hybridoma or cell line.

areta can produce Fab or F(ab)2 antibody fragments either by enzymatic cleavage of the whole antibody molecule or by expression in mammalian or bacterial expression systems.

Generation

areta has an efficient monoclonal antibodies generation strategy finalized to obtain hybridomas secreting highly selective and specific antibodies. The generation is based on customized immunization protocols (using mice immunized with different antigens such as proteins, peptides, haptens and cells), the monitoring of the animal’s immune response to the specific antigen with serum ELISA tests, proprietary somatic fusion method and screening protocols to ensure a rapid and specific antibodies production. The best clones are sub-cloned to obtain clones specific to the antigen of interest.

Production

Rapid and efficient techniques are developed for the production of the necessary amount of mAb starting from the clones previously generated. The high-producing clones are produced in serum free medium making easier the purification process, with the selection of the most appropriate bioreactor (Hollow Fiber, CELLine, Cell Factory, Wave) for the process. Finally the set up of the purification strategy from serum, ascites, cell culture supernatant and other biological samples ensures the production of antibodies amount from few milligrams up to grams. Antibodies are selected with different analytical methods (ELISA, Western blot, FACS, etc).

Labelling

areta offers the set up of different labelling strategies to visualize a rapid and specific signal detection of an antibody-antigen interaction. In the most common instance, the antibodies are conjugated to an enzyme, such as peroxidase (HRP), that can catalyse a colour-producing reaction. Alternatively, the antibody can also be tagged with biotin or with a fluorophore. After labelling the monoclonal antibodies are quality tested to confirm their specificity and labelling yield.