Production and applications of new monoclonal antibodies against human lymphocyte antigen-A and -B antigens.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against HLA antigens can give better information about the serology and biochemistry of the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) than HLA antisera obtained from pregnant women. To increase the very limited panel of MAbs against HLA we immunized mice with human cultured cell lines and fused their spleen cells with the Ag8-653 myeloma. We produced MAbs against HLA-A1, A2/w69, A2/28, A2/11/25/26/28/29/30/31/33/34, A25/32, B7/22, and B13. The best dilution medium to store the MAbs in Terasaki plates was RPMI 1640 supplemented with 7% bovine serum albumin. The MAbs are also excellent reagents to investigate public HLA antigens and to stain HLA antigens in cryosections of transplanted organs.