Evidence for shared antigenic determinants on rabbit and human interleukin 1 (IL 1)

An antiserum to human interleukin 1 (IL 1) was prepared by immunizing a goat with the isoelectric point (pI) 6.9 type of IL 1 in Freund's complete adjuvant. Serum-mediated inhibition of the biological activity of IL 1 appeared within 4 wk after the first immunization, and showed a progressive rise in titer over a 9-mo period. The inhibitory moiety was purified by sequential ammonium sulfate fractionation and DEAE-Sephacel ion exchange chromatography, and the activity was found to co-purify with the IgG fraction of the serum. The antibody neutralized the biological activity of the pI 6.9 type of human IL 1 derived from either human placental tissue or human peripheral blood adherent cells, but did not neutralize the pI 5.2 type of IL 1 derived from either source. When used as an affinity reagent, the antibody selectively absorbed the pI 6.9 human IL 1, but not the pI 5.2 human IL 1. Furthermore, the antibody neutralized the pI 7.4 type of IL 1 derived from rabbit alveolar macrophages, but had no activity against the pI 4.6 IL 1 derived from the same source. No inhibitory activity against rat spleen cell-derived IL 1 or murine P388D1 cell line-derived IL 1 was detected. These experiments support the concept that the differing pI types of IL 1 derived from the same species are both biochemically and antigenically distinct molecules, and IL 1 of similar pI type derived from different species may share antigenic determinants.