[Testing of monoclonal antibodies to human interferon]

A comparative study of testing methods for polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to human interferon using direct and reverse neutralization of the antiviral activity of interferon as well as ELISA was carried out. The activity of antibodies in ELISA was dozens of times higher than in neutralization tests. Polyclonal antibodies from the sera of mice immunized with alpha 2 interferon had a higher neutralizing capacity. M-5 monoclonal antibodies in specimens of ascitic fluid induced by inoculation of mice with hybrid cells exhibited an increase in both binding and neutralizing activity as compared with specimens of the culture fluid. Immunoglobulins from the ascitic and culture fluid of nonproductive myeloma cells as well as hybridomas producing monoclonal antibodies of other specificities showed practically no reaction with interferon in any of the tests under study. The screening of monoclonal antibodies intended for research and biotechnological purposes requires a composite analysis in both neutralization and binding tests in order to recover purposefully the hybrid clones producing antibodies with both or one of these properties.