Valens: A Mass Spectrometry-Based Antibody Sequencing Tool by Digital Proteomics

描述（由申请人提供）：单克隆抗体对目标分子具有高特异性，因此已成功地用作治疗和诊断试剂。构成抗体一级结构的氨基酸序列在很大程度上决定了抗体的结合偏好和效力。因此，抗体测序是开发新型抗体疗法的核心要求。我们提出了一种直接从蛋白质序列进行抗体测序的方法，而不需要源细胞，这使得它在许多实验室和临床环境中都很实用。此外，我们提出的计算方法是完全自动化的，并且将通过显着减少测序所需的时间从数周到数小时来提高吞吐量。我们计划在可以在单个桌面计算机上运行的独立工具中实现我们的方法，或者利用云计算中可用的大量资源。我们还将为没有质谱设备或计算资源的用户提供内部测序服务。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Monoclonal antibodies exhibit high specificity for target molecules and for that reason have been successfully utilized as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The sequence of amino acids comprising the primary structure of an antibody is largely responsible for its binding preference and efficacy. Therefore, antibody sequencing is a central requirement for the development of novel antibody therapies. We propose a method of performing antibody sequencing directly from the protein sequence, without requiring the source cell, which makes it practical for many lab and clinical settings. In addition, our proposed computational method is fully automated, and will increase throughput by dramatically reducing the time required for sequencing from weeks to hours. We plan to implement our method in both a stand-alone tool that may be run on a single desktop computer, or make use of the vast resources available in cloud computing. We will also provide an in-house sequencing service for users without access to the mass spectrometry equipment or computing resources. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Characterizing the sequence of an antibody is a prerequisite for the development of antibody based therapies and diagnostic methods, which represent a growing segment of the drug market. We propose a novel computational method of antibody sequencing based on mass spectrometry, which will dramatically increase the rate of antibody characterization, and reduce the time from development in the lab to treatment in the clinic.