[Study on the characteristics of agglutination reaction of McAb with Leptospira interrogans outer envelope].

Three McAb were produced against an outer envelope preparation from Leptospira, interrogans, serovar Lai by fusion of SP2/0 myeloma cells with immune BALB/c mice spleen cells. The fusion rate was 96% and the antibody positive rate was 50%. One of the hybridomas, E4B11C9, reacted with 13 of the 13 serovars of the Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup in microscopic agglutination test (MAT) but did not react with the 18 representative serovars of L. interrogans and L. biflexa serovar patoc and Leptonema illini. For all non-reactive serovars the MAT titres were greater than 1:25. The McAb, E4B7G5, reacted similarly with all serovars except smithi and tonkini. E4B7D4 reacted also similarly with all serovars except serovars birkini, ndambari, bogvere, smithi and tonkini. Therefore, 3 McAb showed serogroup specificity and partial serogroup specificity by agglutination. The agglutination titres were high and hybridomas were stable, so it might be useful in providing a simple, rapid method for the classification and identification of clinical isolates such as pathogenic L. interrogans in place of the complicated and time-consuming conventional methods.