Production of large numbers of hybridomas producing monoclonal antibodies against rat IgE using mast cell-deficient w/wv and sl/sld strains of mice.

A number of different mouse strains and immunization protocols were used to attempt to make monoclonal antibodies against rat IgE for use in studies of the structure, biological activities and regulation of this class of antibody. Successful production of large numbers of monoclonal antibodies was achieved when mast cell deficient (w/wv and sl/sld) but not conventional (BALB/c, CAF1 or SJL) mice were used. These results suggest that the poor response of conventional strains of mice to rat IgE may be due to the presence of mast cells bearing high affinity receptors for IgE in these mice.