Method for large scale production of antibodies using a cell-free protein synthesis system

Abstract

Described herein are methods for large scale production of antibodies using a cell-free protein synthesis system. The methods include expressing a heavy chain (HC) polypeptide of an antibody from a nucleic acid encoding the heavy chain in a cell-free bacterial extract in the presence of a light chain (LC) polypeptide, thereby producing the antibody. The methods are performed at a large scale that is suitable for commercial production of antibodies, for example in a reaction volume equal to or greater than about 10 liters, for example about 10 to about 25,000 liters. The methods result in increased yields per unit volume of properly folded and assembled antibodies as opposed to synthesizing the light chain in the same cell-free protein synthesis system as the heavy chain polypeptide.

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