Toward a system for detecting somatic-cell mutations. V. Preparation of fluorescent antibodies to hemoglobin...

Antibodies against the abnormal human hemoglobin, Hb Hasharon (alpha 47 Asp leads to His), were raised in horse and purified by absorption against Sepharose 4B to which normal hemoglobins or Hb Hasharon were bound. The purified, non-precipitating antibodies were tested for specificity against normal hemoglobins and Hb Hasharon by immunodiffusion in the presence of anti-horse IgG, and by exposing mixtures of normal and Hb Hasharon-containing red cells to the antibodies after conjugation of the latter with fluorescein isothiocyanate. The ease with which antibodies specific for different variant hemoglobins have been prepared, and their potential for identifying individual erythrocytes that contain these hemoglobins by virtue of somatic mutation, underscore their value as aids to detection and analysis of mutational events in human subjects.