Production and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against human BAD protein.

More then 20 hybridoma cell lines secreting antibodies to recombinant human BAD protein were established. From five hybridomas monoclonal antibodies were purified and characterised. Four monoclonal antibodies belong to the IgG1 subclass. One monoclonal antibody (MAb) (designated as 6A11) belongs to the IgG2b subclass. All five MAbs have a specificity to different epitopes on the BAD protein. Four MAbs bound to the BAD + Bcl-2 complex, and one antibody (designated as 5E6) bound only BAD. A sandwich enzyme immunoassay specific to the human BAD molecule was developed using the different MAbs. The results show that the obtained antibodies are quite useful in studying the biological functions of BAD.