Cell based radioimmunoassays to quantitate the immunoreactivity of TNT monoclonal antibodies directed against intracellular antigens.

Direct and indirect radioimmunoassay (RIA) procedures to determine the amount of binding of a mouse monoclonal antibody (MoAb) reactive with an intracellular antigen present in human cells are described. In these RIAs, mouse IgG2a MoAb, designated as Tumor Necrosis Treatment (TNT-1) antibody, paraformaldehyde/acetone fixed cells, and Sephadex beads were used to standardize the assay conditions. In the direct RIA, 83% of the 125I-labeled TNT-1 MoAb was bound to the target cells within 30 min after the addition of reagents. The amount of binding of the MoAb was directly proportional to the amount of antigen present in the assay. When the direct RIA was carried out using different types of target cells, 125I-labeled TNT-1 MoAb showed greater than 70% binding. In the indirect RIA, the amount of binding of secondary 125I-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG antibody to the target cells was linear. These results suggest that the indirect RIA can be used to estimate the immunoreactivity of the unlabeled TNT-1 MoAb present in crude protein preparations. Based on the results of RIAs the following two conclusions are drawn: 1) the direct RIA can be used to estimate rapidly the amount of immunoreactive TNT-1 MoAb present in 125I-labeled antibody preparations and 2) the indirect RIA which estimates the amount of immunoreactivity of unlabeled TNT-1 MoAb can be used to monitor the purification and study the characteristics of the MoAb present in crude protein preparations. These methods enable the quantitative measurement of MoAbs reactive against intracellular antigens using standard RIA procedures.