Generation of antigen-responsive B-cell line by somatic cell hybridization

An antibody-secreting hybridoma specific for the fluorescein hapten has been fused with a nonsecreting pre-B-cell tumor line to yield an inducible antigen-binding hybrid with very little antibody secretion. Upon stimulation with fluoresceinated LPS (FL-LPS), the amount of specific antibody secreted by this hybrid increased up to five-fold. Although unhaptenated LPS alone induced a small response (two-fold increase), several lines of evidence suggested that the stimulation induced by the haptenated LPS involved an interaction with the fluorescein specific surface immunoglobulin receptor. However, since a variety of other antigens bearing the same hapten failed to induce a secretory response, a role for mitogenic focusing and/or B-cell subset triggering can also be envisaged. This is the first report of a monoclonal, antigen-specific and responsive hybrid, which can serve as a model for studying the differentiation of specific B lymphocytes into antibody-secreting cells.