LAUSR

Producing a functional anti-IL-2R α antibody in Leishmania tarentolae , a trypanosomatid protozoan non-pathogenic to human, is a cost-effective and safe alternative for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins. Expression cassettes encoding heavy and light chains of the anti-IL-2R α antibody were cloned into two separate pLEXSY vectors. The plasmids were then used to transfect L. tarentolae laboratory strain p10 and stable expression of a recombinant humanized anti-IL-2R α antibody was obtained. The heavy and light chains successfully assembled to produce a tetrameric 150 kDa antibody. The antibody was glycosylated and functional as assessed by enzymatic deglycosylation and cell proliferation assays respectively. L. tarentolae can be used as an efficient, cost and labor-effective expression system for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins.