Production of a monoclonal antibody reacting with vimentin, a structural protein of intermediate filaments.

This paper reports on the production of a monoclonal antibody (i-18) reacting with vimentin, the major structural component of intermediate filaments in cells of mesenchymal origin. The antibody was obtained following immunization with hamster fibroblasts and was selected for its ability to bind to the cytoskeleton fraction of the aforementioned cells. It decorated a perinuclear filamentous network characteristic of vimentin filaments in cells of mesenchymal origin of avian through human species. The specificity of the reagent was further ascertained on the basis of the sensitivity of the decorated filaments to colcemide. The strict antibody specificity for cells of mesenchymal versus epithelial origin was confirmed also in vivo on histological specimens from solid tissue. The i-18 monoclonal antibody precipitated a molecule of about 57 Kd from metabolically labelled cellular extracts. The broad cross-reactivity of this monoclonal antibody among different animal species, as well as its strict in vivo mesenchymal tissue specificity makes this antibody a useful reagent for both experimental and diagnostic purposes.