Human interferon-gamma has three domains associated with its antiviral function: a neutralizing epitope typing scheme for human interferon-gamma.

An antiviral activity-neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb), MIF3037, was developed by the immunization of BALB/c mice with recombinant human interferon-gamma (rhuIFN-gamma). Its neutralizing activity suggests that its epitope may be at or adjacent to a functional domain on the huIFN-gamma. MIF3037 was compared with representative mAb of previously identified epitope-specific groups in a competitive binding assay. In an attempt to determine if there are other functional epitopes recognized by mAb developed with different preparations of huIFN-gamma or different hybridoma screening methods, 14 additional mAb contributed by five other laboratories were similarly analysed. Based on their ability to bind to huIFN-gamma, all the neutralizing mAb except MIF3037 may be classified into three previously defined groups: E1, E2 and E1/E2. Monoclonal antibodies of the E1 group do not compete with those of the E2 group for huIFN-gamma binding, indicating that the E1 and E2 epitopes are distinct domains on the huIFN-gamma important for the antiviral function. Monoclonal antibodies of the E1/E2 group compete with some of the mAb of E1 and/or E2 groups and may bind to regions of the huIFN-gamma that partially overlap the E1 and E2 epitopes. MIF3037 demonstrated no competitive binding inhibition with mAb of the previously identified epitope specificity groups and, therefore, must represent a distinct functional epitope, E3. The huIFN-gamma, therefore, must have at least three distinct functional domains; none of these appeared to be responsible for cell surface receptor binding. Based on this finding, the epitope typing scheme must be extended to include the E3 epitope. The epitope specificity relationships of 13 neutralizing mAb developed by five other laboratories were established which allows correlation of results obtained with these mAb by different laboratories. The location of the epitopes of four widely studied mAb, 69B, 73A, 113B and 220A12, have been deduced based on their competition with the E1 mAb which have recently been mapped.