We studied the serologic properties of monoclonal autoantibodies that were produced by hybridomas derived from lymphocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. The hybridomas were made by fusion of a human lymphoblastoid cell line, GM 4672 (derived from a patient with multiple myeloma), with peripheral-blood or splenic lymphocytes from six patients with lupus. Thirty monoclonal autoantibodies, selected for their ability to react with denatured DNA, were analyzed. Eighteen of them reacted with three or more additional polynucleotides, including native DNA, left-handed double-helical DNA (Z-DNA), poly(l), and poly(dT). Ten reacted both with nucleic acids and the phospholipid cardiolipin. The multiple binding reactions of the monoclonal autoantibodies may be explained by the presence of appropriately spaced phosphodiester groups in both the polynucleotides and the phospholipid. The sharing of antigenic groups by polymers of different natures may contribute to the apparent diversity of serologic reactions in systemic lupus erythematosus. These findings suggest that DNA itself need not be the immunogenic stimulus for autoantibody formation in this disease.
The utilization of one human lymphoblastoid cell line in fusion experiments with peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has made it possible to define efficient and reproducible conditions for the production of anti-DNA-secreting human-human hybridomas. This investigation, using the human lymphoblastoid cell line GM 4672 fused in the presence of 44% polyethylene glycol with lymphocytes from SLE patients, demonstrated a maximal yield of 22.8% hybridomas, 17% of which produced anti-DNA antibodies. We were able to define, in two independent laboratories, that the maximal yield of hybridomas occurred when the lymphocyte to GM 4672 cell ratio was 1:1 and cells were seeded in 2.0 ml wells at a concentration of 4 X 10(5) cells/well. This report demonstrates the reproducibility of human-human hybridoma production with the GM 4672 cell line and the establishment of efficient conditions for the production of anti-DNA autoantibodies from SLE patients.
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