A novel surface antigen on lymphoid cells transformed by Epstein-Barr virus.

A surface antigen (SA) was detected on EBV-carrying lymphoid cell lines by an indirect membrane immunofluorescence test with serum from rabbits immunized with Raji cells; the antiserum had been extensively absorbed with normal human blood and tonsil cells. The SA was not detected on normal human umbilical-cord and adult peripheral blood lymphocytes or EBV-negative cell lines. The incidences of the SA and EBV-determined membrane antigen (MA) on certain EBV-carrying cell lines were not compatible. Antibody against SA or MA was differentially abolished by absorption with the SA-positive but MA-negative cell line or the MA-positive but SA-negative cell line, respectively. The results of cross-absorption tests of antisera against either Raji cells or P3HR-1 cells suggested that SA is not a single but a complex antigen.