A new monoclonal antibody which binds to the cytoplasm of large cell lymphomas.

We reported a new monoclonal antibody, designated FUB-1, reacting with normal and neoplastic large lymphoid cells. FUB-1 was produced using a Burkitt's lymphoma cell line (HBL-5) as an immunogen. Its immunoglobulin subtype was IgM. The determinant was not on the surface but in the cytoplasm. Western blotting analysis revealed that the molecular weight of the antigen was 52,000 dalton. In the normal lymphoid tissue, FUB-1 reacted with large lymphoid cells, but not with small or medium-sized lymphoid cells or plasma cells. In addition, the FUB-1 antigen was not found in resting cells in the peripheral blood (PB), but it was induced on mononuclear cells of PB by addition of PWM or PMA. In the B-cell lymphomas tested, FUB-1 reacted with small cleaved cell lymphomas (3/12), large cell lymphomas (7/10), Burkitt's lymphomas (4/4) and immunoblastic lymphomas (2/2), but not with small cell lymphomas (0/3) or intermediate lymphocytic lymphomas (0/8). These findings indicate that the FUB-1 antigen appears to be expressed on normal lymphoid cells during blastoid transformation and on neoplastic large lymphoid cells. FUB-1 also reacted with normal glandular epithelium and various adenocarcinomas. FUB-1 may be useful to investigate the mechanism of in vitro blastoid transformation or activation of lymphoid cells.