Monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) as a tool for the automated HBsAg screening.

Abstract

Hybridomas secreting monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were established by fusion of the spleen cells from mice immunized with purified HBsAg with the mouse myeloma cell line P3-NSI/1-Ag4-1. The monoclonal antibodies to the group-specific antigen (a) produced by one of them were used for the automated screening of HBsAg on the Groupamatic 360 (Kontron International). Its sensitivity is almost equal, but slightly inferior, to the system employing polyclonal horse antibodies to HBsAg; it barely detects 6 ng/ml of HBsAg. It is also as highly specific as the system with polyclonal antibodies; the incidence of false-positive reactions is 0.2%. These results indicate that the monoclonal antibodies will become a practical source for the HBsAg screening on the Groupamatic.