Isolation of Monoclonal Antibodies Monospecific for Bovine -Lactalbumin

¹ Specialized Center for Cancer Research and Education, University of Illinois School of Medicine at Chicago, Chicago 60612

Monoclonal antibodies were generated against purified bovine -lactalbumin. Three antibodies reactive only to -lactalbumin were selected. Two of the antibodies appeared to be species monospecific and bound with only bovine -lactalbumin. The third monoclonal recognized both bovine and human -lactalbumin with a 2:1 preference for bovine -lactalbumin. Two of the monoclonals (48–60, 48–68) bound to different epitopes with high affinity (K_a = 8 x 10¹¹, 5.3 x 10¹² M^–1). The third monoclonal (48–22), which was of isotype IgA, had an epitope similar to that of 48–60 but with an apparent affinity of –4 x 10¹² M^–1 . These antibodies should prove extremely useful adjuncts in structural studies of bovine -lactalbumin.

Key Words: Bovine • -lactalbumin • monoclonal antibodies

Submitted on November 20, 1989
Accepted on May 11, 1990