Detection of a surface antigen on NIH3T3 cells transfected with a human leukemia oncogene

This study was conducted to examine the cell surface changes associated with oncogene induced transformation. Using the transfection technique the DNA of a human acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) was used to transform murine NIH3T3 cells. Balb/c mice were immunized with these transfectants and their immune splenocytes were used to produce a monoclonal antibody (17-9H3). Antibody 17-9H3 was demonstrated to bind to the cell membranes of transfectants and leukemia cells but not normal 3T3 cells in an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Fresh human leukemias, cultured leukemia lines and normal hemopoietic cells were examined with immunoperoxidase staining techniques to determine the specificity of 17-9H3. Our data suggest that the antigen associated with a human acute lymphocytic leukemia oncogene is ubiquitous, distributed among both neoplastic and normal hemopoietic cells. Among fresh human leukemias the antigen appears to be present primarily on fresh null ALLs and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in blast crisis. This antigen was also found to be expressed by the majority of cultured T-cell lines tested.