| Abstract: | Three murine monoclonal anti-ssDNA autoantibodies have been produced by fusion of spleen cells from NZB/NZW F1 hybrid mice with Sp 2/0-Ag 14 murine myeloma cells. Specificity studies characterizing monoclonal anti-ssDNA autoantibodies revealed binding patterns for nucleotides. Clone E-4-1 showed preferential binding with mono-, di- and polyguanosine. Clones E-4-4 and E-11-1 specifically bound mono-, di- and polythymidine. Results of inhibition studies indicated an order of reactivity for each monoclonal autoantibody: polynucleotide greater than dinucleotide greater than mononucleotide. In a fluorescence immune assay, using aminonaphthyl derivatives of nucleotides, all three monoclonal antibodies exhibited a low affinity (5 x 10(4)-10(5) M-1) for the homologous mononucleotides. The affinity of clone E-4-1 increased approximately 10-fold when a dinucleotide derivative was used relative to a mononucleotide fluorescent ligand. |
