Human antibodies to neurofibrillary tangles and astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease.

Multiple B cell lines established by Epstein-Barr viral transformation from six patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and six age-matched controls were screened immunocytochemically for their reactivities with AD and normal brains as well as to cell lines such as HeLa, fibroblasts and neuroblastoma. A higher incidence of reactivity with neurofibrillary tangles in situ was found among the cell lines from AD patients (23/866) in comparison with those from normals (6/803). Three cell lines from a patient with a definitive neuropathological diagnosis of AD were shown to secrete antibodies preferentially reactive with astrocytes in the grey matter of AD brain and one cell line from a normal elderly individual was shown to specifically react with neurofibrillary tangles and plaque neurites. These four antibodies were not reactive with normal brains or cell lines. These unique human antibodies may be useful in the diagnosis of AD and offer clues to its pathogenesis.