Human heterophilic antibodies display specificity for murine IgG subclasses

OBJECTIVES: The study investigated heterophilic antibodies: the human immunoglobulin classes involved and their specificity for different murine IgG subclasses. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using immunofluorometric assays for human IgA, IgM and IgG binding murine IgG1, we analyzed 173 samples displaying positive interference and 97 negative control samples from a previous study. We also set up assays for heterophilic antibody interference using Mabs from different murine IgG subclasses. Three Mabs each of murine IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b subclasses, one murine IgG3 Mab and one rat Mab were used. RESULTS: Elevated levels of human murine IgG1-binding immunoglobulins of IgM class only were found in 40% of interference-positive samples, human IgG only in 1.7%, and human IgA only in 2.3% of the samples. Both elevated human IgG and IgM classes were found in 3.5% of the samples, IgA and IgM in 4.0%, and finally, all three immunoglobulin classes in 1.7% of the samples. Eighty percent of interference positive samples showed heterophilic assay interference for at least one murine IgG1 Mab, 35% for IgG2a, 66% for IgG2b, 52% for IgG3a and 17% for the rat Mab. CONCLUSIONS: Heterophilic antibody interference is mainly caused by IgM class human antibodies with a marked murine IgG subclass specificity. Combining assay antibodies from different murine IgG subclasses may reduce interference in immunoassays.