Generation and characterization of a murine monoclonal antibody to cervical glandular epithelium using mice rendered tolerant to cervical squamous epithelium.

Murine monoclonal antibodies that distinguish glandular from squamous epithelia in human tissue were generated using a procedure that involved tolerization prior to immunization. Tolerization was achieved by injection of newborn (24 hrs old) Balb/c mice with extract of normal cervical tissue containing squamous epithelium (the tolerogen). Three weeks later, mice showing no evidence of antibodies to tolerogen in their sera were immunized with an extract of cervical tissue containing both glandular and squamous epithelia. Following immunization, the sera from mice subjected to this treatment showed strong reactivity with glandular cells but not with squamous cells in sections of frozen tissue examined by an indirect immunohistological method. Spleen cells from mice showing this pattern of serum reactivity were used as fusion partners with a mouse myeloma cell line in order to generate monoclonal antibodies. Following extensive screening, one monoclonal antibody (designated anti-GEA.49) was selected for further study on the basis of reactivity with high affinity to glandular epithelium and a complete absence of staining of squamous and connective-tissue cells. Detailed tests of specificity and patterns of reactivity indicate that the antigen detected by the antibody is expressed on the apical plasma membrane of glandular epithelia and is a glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 49 kilodaltons. Both immunohistological and biochemical methods demonstrated the expression of the antigen on glandular epithelia but not on squamous epithelia from several sources, underlining the usefulness of tolerization/immunization approach for generating antibodies with particular specificity requirements.