Advantages of bispecific hybridomas in one-step immunocytochemistry and immunoassays.

A chemical selection procedure has been used to prepare a hybrid hybridoma cell line (P4C1) following fusion of two previously established hybridomas secreting antiperoxidase and antisubstance P, respectively. P4C1 secretes bispecific monoclonal antibody alongside the two parental antibodies, with no visible inactive heterologous heavy-light chain pairs. The bispecific monoclonal antibody is thus easy to purify in excellent yields. The advantage of its monovalency for one antigen and simultaneous binding of a marker enzyme has been explored for its potential use in competitive immunoassays. Its use in immunocytochemistry led to major improvements in sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, simplification of staining procedures, and ultrastructural preservation of subcellular elements. Particularly remarkable was that, unlike conventional procedures, the immunoreaction with the bispecific monoclonal antibody was homogeneously distributed across the entire thickness of a 50-micron section.