From the Department of Immunology, Shiraz Univeristy of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, I.R. Iran. , amirghz@sums.ac.ir
Abstract: (4344 Views)
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), a serum glycoprotein belonging to the onco-developmental
proteins group, serves as a marker both in cancer research and in studies
concerning fetal development and fetal pathophysiology.
Monoclonal anti-AFP antibodies are essential reagents in developing appropriate
techniques for measurement of this protein. In this study, in order to produce
anti-AFP monoclonal antibody (mAb), AFP was partially purified from cord
sera using two-step ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose with a final
recovery of about 570µg. MAbs against this preparation was raised by hybridoma
technology using Ag8.653 mouse myeloma cells as the fusion partner. Hybridomas
appeared in 10% (30/300) of culture wells and of these 2 clones were
found to be positive for anti-AFP production. In western blot analysis a 70 kD
band from dead fetus serum-but not adult serum-was stained by both mAbs. A
sandwich ELISA technique using polyclonal antisera on one side and mAbs on
the other side was employed to plot dose response curves. The positive dose dependent
reactivity of the mAbs with standard AFP and other AFP containing
samples and the negative reaction with normal adult sera lacking AFP showed the
specificity of the mAbs for AFP.