Production of antibodies against measles virions by use of the mouse hybridoma technique.

Abstract

Mouse hybridoma cell lines were produced by fusion of P3 × 63 Ag8 myeloma cells with spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with purified measles virions. About 60 per cent of single cell colonies in wells were found to produce measles antibodies as determined by a radioimmune assay. Selected measles antibody producing hybridoma cell lines were passaged intraperitoneally in mice and ascites fluids were collected. This material contained 20–200 times higher antibody titers than unconcentrated medium from hybridoma cell lines propagated in tissue culture. The ascites fluid antibody products of 23 hybridoma cell lines were characterized by different measles serological tests. Seventeen lines produced high titers of hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) and hemolysis-inhibition (HLI) antibodies. One hybridoma cell line produced Ig with low HI but high HLI activity and the remaining 5 hybridoma cell line products only carried HLI activity. Unexpectedly it was found in radioimmune precipitation assays that all hybridomas studied, including those showing HLI but no HI antibody activity, gave a selective precipitation of the 79K measles hemagglutinin polypeptide. Radioimmune precipitation assays with sera from immunized animals showed that they contained high titers of antibodies precipitating the 79 K polypeptide but in addition also somewhat lower titers of antibodies precipitating the 60 K nucleoprotein, 40 K fusion and 36 K matrix polypeptides. Homogeneous Ig products carrying measles antibody activity were demonstrated by imprint immunoelectrophoresis of ascites materials.