Production of monoclonal antibodies specific for antigens derived from tissue of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) affected with plasmacytoid leukemia.

Two distinct monoclonal antibodies (MAB) were prepared for testing with kidney, spleen, and retrobulbar tissue imprints made from chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) affected with plasmacytoid leukemia. (PL). Hybridomas were prepared from mice immunized with whole and lysed cells purified from renal or retrobulbar PL-positive tissues, which had been obtained from naturally and experimentally infected fish from British Columbia, Canada. The MAB reacted with at least 4 morphologically different cell types; fluorescence was associated with the plasma membrane and cytoplasm. The MAB also reacted with kidney imprints made from chinook salmon affected with a PL-like lymphoproliferative disease in California, indicating that these 2 diseases might be caused by a similar agent. The MAB did not react with any of the kidney or spleen imprints made from wild chinook salmon collected from a river in Ontario, Canada.