The antibody molecule to common acute lymphocytic leukemia (cALL) antigen used the identical or closely related VH gene segment as that of MOPC-21 immunoglobulin heavy chain.

We have cloned a rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (VH) region gene (NL-1-H-5) from the cells of a mouse hybridoma, NL-1, which produce a monoclonal antibody against the common acute lymphocytic leukemia (cALL) antigen. The DNA base sequence of NL-1-H-5 clone revealed that the VH region gene of NL-1 cells used the identical or closely related leader (L) and VH gene to those of the myeloma cell line MOPC-21. There were seven base differences, and six of them were found in the second complementary-determining hypervariable region (CDR-2). The five nucleotide differences in CDR-2 resulted in the variation of amino acid residues of positions 54, 56, 58, and 59. In particular, nucleotide changes at position 56 and 59 yielded tyrosine residues which might be involved in a part of the antibody-combining site structure for cALL antigen.