Use of a specific monoclonal antibody to detect Mallory bodies in liver disease

Mallory bodies (MBs), which are common in alcoholic hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis and liver disease associated with Type II diabetes mellitus, are often difficult to find on liver biopsy specimens or to predict from clinical or biochemical studies. Immunofluorescence studies with anti-NMB-1, a Mallory body-specific monoclonal antibody, indicate that this is a sensitive method for recognizing Mallory bodies in cryostat sections of liver from griseofulvin-treated mice or patients with liver disease. Validity of the leukocyte migration test, which facilitates detection and monitoring of patients who harbor Mallory bodies, is confirmed by pretreatment of Mallory bodies with anti-NMB-1. Prevention of Mallory body-induced migration inhibition by addition of anti-NMB-1 indicates that this effect is not due to inactivation of leukocytes by a Mallory body contaminant. Anti-NMB-1, developed using standard hybridoma techniques, does not react with normal hepatocytes or other cells. Investigations with SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting reveal that it exhibits binding with 62, 55, 42 kd peptides, and four other bands in the range from 40 to 30 kd from the Mallory bodies. The NMB-1 epitope which facilitates morphologic and clinical detection of Mallory bodies is distinct from cytokeratin and appears to be responsible for its immunogenicity.