A murine monoclonal antibody derived from the immunization of human thyroglobulin reacts equally with L-thyroxine and reverse triiodo-L-thyronine and has a unique idiotype.

Murine monoclonal antibody (mAb 16.3.2) to human thyroglobulin which bound equally to various thyroglobulins derived from nine species was obtained from the fusion of C3H/He spleen cells sensitized with normal human thyroglobulin. Characterization of mAb 16.3.2 revealed that both L-thyroxine (T4) and reverse triiodo-L-thyroxine (rT3) were very efficient in the competitive binding inhibition test and that a molar ratio between T4 and rT3 needed for 50% inhibition of binding to immunized thyroglobulin was about 1:1. Further studies on the idiotype of mAb 16.3.2 using both binding and competitive binding inhibition tests showed that mAb 16.3.2 had a unique idiotype not cross-reacting with other monoclonal antibodies to thyroglobulins. Therefore, a possible explanation offered was that mAb 16.3.2 was endowed with a unique idiotype to be regulated by a distinct idiotype network from those of other mAbs.