A multivalent antibody radioimmunoassay (MARIA) for screening specific antibody secretion by lymphocyte hybridoma

A new radioimmunoassay which is suitable for screening lymphocyte hybridoma cultures for monoclonal antibody production is described. Solid-phase antigen is first incubated with the sample, and secondly with soluble 125I-labeled antigen. When the sample contains multivalent specific antibody, the labeled antigen will be bound to the solid-phase antigen. Because no anti-immunoglobulin reagent is used as a second reagent, this type of radioimmunoassay offers several advantages, in particular for the production of monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies.