Cross-reactivity of workshop antibodies with cells from domestic and wild ruminants.

Reactivities of the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from the workshop panel with cells from cattle, sheep, goats, Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and waterbuck (Kobus defassa) were tested. One hundred and sixty-nine mAbs reacted with bovine cells and 111 with sheep cells; 86 were shown to react with goat cells, 71 with buffalo cells and 70 with waterbuck cells. Some mAbs cross-reacted with all five ruminants tested, and are likely to react with epitopes that are conserved in other ruminant species. Such mAbs will obviate the need to produce mAbs panels to leukocyte antigens of other ruminants.