Monoclonal murine anti-nucleic acid antibody with double-stranded specificity

The NZB/NZW F1 murine model for the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been employed in somatic cell hybridizations to develop hybridoma autoantibodies with double-stranded (ds) DNA specificity. Monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies from one hybridoma cell line were purified and analysed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. Results of comparative binding studies with tritiated [3H]-colicin E1 plasmid DNA probes suggested preferential binding for the native DNA conformation relative to single-stranded DNA. [3H]dsDNA binding was inhibited by several ribohomopolymers (poly G, U and I) but not by free nucleotides, indicating that the phosphodiester-ribose backbone may contribute to the binding specificity of the clonotype.