[Human monoclonal antibodies with human-mouse hybridomas]

Our trial to produce human monoclonal antibodies with human-mouse hybridomas is described. Human spleen cells, in comparison with peripheral blood lymphocytes, bone marrow cells and lymphnode lymphocytes, seem to be the best partner to fuse with myeloma line NS-1 to obtain hybridomas. About sixty percent of hybridomas derived from human spleen cells at first produce human Ig which in most cases belong to either IgG or IgM. Fifty percent of hybridomas which had initially produced human Ig continued to do so after 4 months. One of the clones of human monoclonal antibodies reacted with a cell surface antigen expressed on three out of 5 B cell lines, 14 out of 38 Epstein-Barr virus transformed B cell lines and null cell type lymphocytic leukemia cells obtained from one patient out of 34 tested. Other normal or malignant cells, hematopoietic or nonhematopoietic cells examined were negative. The antigen does not seem to be related to EBNA, early antigen and VCA of EB virus, or certain haplotype specificity of HLA-A, B, C, and DR loci. Reports by others on production of monoclonal antibodies with similar approaches were also reviewed.