[Production and identification of monoclonal anti-idiotype antibodies against anti-phenolic glycolipid-I antibody of Mycobacterium leprae].

Hybridoma (4C4) secreting monoclone anti-idiotype antibody (McAb2) against anti-phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) antibody (Ab1) was produced by fusion of SP2/0 myeloma cells and spleen cells of syngeneic mice which had been previously tolerant to human IgM 4C4 monoclone anti-idiotype antibody was identified with a series of experiments including competitive and neutralizing inhibition ELISA. It was found that the binding of McAb2 with rabbit anti-PGL-I antibody could be competitively inhibited by NT-O-BSA (synthetic analog of PGL-I) and neutralized by polyclonal anti-PGL-I antibody derived from various origins (human or rabbit); McAb2 could block the binding of purified human Ab1 with NT-O-BSA. The assay of McAb2 as mimic antigen demonstrated that McAb2 could substitute for NT-O-BSA in leprosy serodiagnosis. These results show that anti-idiotype antibody produced by 4C4 is a monoclone anti-idiotype antibody bearing internal image of PGL-I and possibly can be used in leprosy serodiagnosis.