Patent ID: 7521202

Claim:
A method for the production of soluble Class I MHC complexes in a hollow fiber bioreactor unit having an appropriate growth media therein, comprising the steps of: obtaining gDNA from a sample wherein a portion of the gDNA encodes a desired individual Class I MHC heavy chain molecule; producing a PCR product encoding a soluble form of the desired Class I MHC heavy chain molecule by PCR amplification of the gDNA, wherein the amplification utilizes at least one locus-specific primer having a stop codon incorporated into a 3′ primer thereby resulting in a PCR product that does not encode the cytoplasmic and transmembrane domains of the desired Class I MHC heavy chain molecule, thereby producing a PCR product that encodes a soluble Class I MHC heavy chain molecule; inserting the PCR product into a mammalian expression vector to form a plasmid containing the PCR product encoding the soluble Class I MHC heavy chain molecule; electroporating the plasmid containing the PCR product into at least one suitable host cell; and inoculating the hollow fiber bioreactor unit with the at least one suitable host cell containing the plasmid such that the hollow fiber bioreactor unit produces soluble Class I MHC complexes having the desired Class I MHC heavy chain molecule associated with native beta-2-microglobulin and loaded with endogenously produced peptides, wherein the beta-2-microglobulin is native to and endogenously produced in the host cell.