Production of murine monoclonal antibody to fetal hemoglobin

Yegneshwar S Iyer1, Manisha Patwardhan, Vaishali Pujari

  • 1Institute of Immunohaematology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), King Edward Memorial Hospital Campus, Parel, Mumbai, India.

Hemoglobin
|December 3, 2003
PubMed

Fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) is a major hemoglobin (Hb) component at birth. Hb F levels are markedly elevated in a number of inherited and acquired disorders. Measurement of Hb F levels is usually carried out by alkali denaturation which is not very accurate for low and high values. An accurate estimation of Hb F, and also of F cells, is desired in many hematological disorders like sickle cell disease, in monitoring the efficacy of hydroxyurea (HU) therapy, to assess feto-maternal hemorrhage (FMH) during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. We have raised a murine monoclonal antibody to human Hb F, that accurately measures the number of F cells by flow cytometry. The antibody was found to be potent and specific for F cells.