Production of a highly specific monoclonal antibody progesterone

A progesterone monoclonal antibody which may be used in the development of a sensitive and specific immunoassay is described. The preparation involved isolation of spleen cells from Balb/c mice immunized with progesterone 11 alpha-hemisuccinate-bovine serum albumin conjugate, which were then fused with two different mouse myeloma cell lines. Hybridomas secreting antibody to progesterone were detected by immunoassay and cloned in soft agar. Five percent of the resulting clones secreted antibody; these clones originated from cultures producing very little antibody, and so might easily have been discarded. THe monoclonal antibody obtained is highly specific and has a binding affinity of approximately 1.7 X 10(9) M-1, so it may be advantageously used in the detection of progesterone in body fluids.