Immunogenic and antigenic epitopes of immunoglobulins I. Cross-reactivity of murine monoclonal antibodies to human IgG with the immunoglobulins of certain animal species.

Antibody-producing hybridoma clones have been isolated following immunization of mice with human IgG. Twenty-five monoclonal antibodies (nine anti-C gamma 3, fourteen anti-C gamma 2, one anit-kappa and one anti-lambda) were selected for study of their cross-reactivity with the IgG of fifteen mammalian species and chicken immunoglobulin. Each antibody exhibited a unique reaction profile suggesting that human IgG expresses a very large repertoire of immunogenic epitopes. Whilst some antibodies showed a very restricted cross-reactivity profile for others a very wide reactivity profile was observed-including two clones producing autoantibodies. Antibodies demonstrating cross-reactivity between human Fc gamma and 7S chicken immunoglobulin allow its definitive assignment as a homologue of human IgG. Four clones demonstrated specificity for bovine IgG subclass gamma 1 and gamma 2 and the degree of reactivity allows their application to qualitative and quantitative assay systems. These studies suggest new perspectives for the characterization of immunoglobulins and the standardization of anti-immunoglobulin reagents.