Comparison of tissue culture cells and histological sections for use in screening monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies have been screened using either tissue culture cells or histologic sections as a source of antigen. We evaluated and compared these two methods using six murine monoclonal antibodies on human kidney cultures and histologic sections of human normal kidney and renal carcinoma. Antibody binding demonstrated shared antigens on kidney culture cells, renal tubular cells and renal carcinoma cells. The patterns of antibody binding were generally similar with either cultured cells or histologic sections. However, certain antibodies demonstrated significant differences in antibody binding depending on the method used for screening.