Production of rabbit IgG antibodies against human cord blood alpha-fetoprotein

Abstract

   Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a plasma protein which is produced during fetal development. In healthy adults, AFP exist in serum with very low concentration (<20ng/mL). However, in some cases of disease, specially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cirrhosis, ... it was found that levels of AFP become dramatically increase, about 500 - 2000ng/mL. Therefore, AFP has become the biomarker used in serodiagnosis. In this study, we successfully produced anti-AFP IgG antibodies in the rabbits. After purification by protein G affinity chromatography, the antibodies were shown recognise AFP in the cord blood plasma and can be further considered as important reagent for development of serodiagnosis applications.