Anti-glycolipid antibodies produced by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed oligoclonal B cell lines obtained from normal persons and autoimmune disease patients.

Oligoclonal B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) were blindly established by nonimmunized protocol from natural populations of two normal persons and 8 autoimmune disease patients using Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced transformation. We systematically screened these LCLs on antibodies against a panel of glycolipids using liposome immune lysis assay (LILA). Eventually we found antibodies to 12 out of 15 compounds containing CTH, globoside, Forssman, paragloboside, CPH, sulfatide, NAGM3, NGGM3, i active glycolipid, GM1, GA1 and GA2 in 81 out of 950 LCLs from normal PBL, and antibodies to 2 out of 15 compounds containing sulfatide and CPH were also detected in 11 out of 430 LCLs from autoimmune disease patients. Unexpectedly, the antibody repertoire of LCLs from autoimmune disease patients was impoverished. The possibility of the EBV technique for production of various kinds of human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to glycolipid was shown.