Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) in combination with yeast surface display (YSD) has proven to be a valuable tool for the engineering of antibodies. It enables the fast and robust identification and isolation of candidates with prescribed characteristics from combinatorial libraries. A novel application for FACS and YSD that has recently evolved addresses the engineering of antibodies toward pH-switchable antigen binding, aiming at reduced binding at acidic pH, compared to neutral pH. Therefore, we give guidance for the incorporation of such pH switches into antibody variable domains using combinatorial histidine scanning libraries. The protocol describes a flow cytometric sorting technique for the enrichment of antigen-specific molecules. Moreover, we provide information on how to screen the obtained antibody pools from initial sorting to isolate and characterize pH-sensitive variants.
Keywords: Antibody engineering; Fab display; Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS); Protein engineering; Yeast surface display; pH-dependent antigen binding; pH-switch engineering.