The production, characterisation and enhanced pharmacokinetics of scFv–albumin fusions expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

An expression system is described for the production of monomeric scFvs and scFv antibody fragments genetically fused to human albumin (at either the N- or C-terminus or both). Based upon strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae originally developed for the production of a recombinant human albumin (Recombumin®) this system has delivered high levels of secreted product into the supernatant of shake flask and high cell density fed-batch fermentations. Specific binding to the corresponding ligand was demonstrated for each of the scFvs and scFv–albumin fusions and pharmacokinetic studies showed that the fusion products had greatly extended circulatory half-lives. The system described provides an attractive alternative to other microbial systems for the manufacture of this type of product.