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Background: The follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)-receptor (FSHR) has been reported to be an attractive target for antibody therapy in human cancer. However, divergent immunohistochemical (IHC) findings have been reported for FSHR expression in tumor tissues, which could be due to the specificity of the antibodies used. Methods: Three frequently used antibodies (sc-7798, sc-13935, and FSHR323) were validated for their suitability in an immunohistochemical study for FSHR expression in different tissues. As quality control, two potential therapeutic anti-hFSHR Ylanthia ® antibodies (Y010913, Y010916) were used. The specificity criteria for selection of antibodies were binding to native hFSHR of different sources, and no binding to non-related proteins. The ability of antibodies to stain the paraffin-embedded Flp-In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)/FSHR cells was tested after application of different epitope retrieval methods. Results: From the five tested anti-hFSHR antibodies, only Y010913, Y010916, and FSHR323 showed specific binding to native, cell-presented hFSHR. Since Ylanthia ® antibodies were selected to specifically recognize native FSHR, as required for a potential therapeutic antibody candidate, FSHR323 was the only antibody to detect the receptor in IHC/histochemical settings on transfected cells, and at markedly lower, physiological concentrations (ex., in Sertoli cells of human testes). The pattern of FSH323 staining noticed for ovarian, prostatic, and renal adenocarcinomas indicated that FSHR was expressed mainly in the peripheral tumor blood vessels. Conclusion: Of all published IHC antibodies tested, only antibody FSHR323 proved suitable for target validation of hFSHR in an IHC setting for cancer. Our studies could not confirm the previously reported FSHR overexpression in ovarian and prostate cancer cells. Instead, specific overexpression in peripheral tumor blood vessels could be confirmed after thorough validation of the antibodies used.

Lactoferrin (LF), an iron-binding glycoprotein, and a bactericidal pepsin-derived fragment of LF, lactoferricin (LFcin), are involved in host defense mechanisms via bacteriostatic activity and immunoregulatory properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of bovine LF and LFcin on the synthesis of immunologically important factors in leukocytes [white blood cells (WBC)] and monocytes. Monocytes were isolated from bovine blood using antibody-coated magnetic beads and cultured in parallel to WBC. Cells were treated with LF or LFcin and with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Various pro-inflammatory [tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1 (IL-1) and IL-6] and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokine mRNA expression responses were quantified via a one-step real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, the gene expression for TNFα and IL-10 and the transcriptional activity of nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB) were measured after 0, 1, 2, 4 and 8 h. LF, LFcin and LPS strongly up-regulated the mRNA expression of all investigated cytokines, with peaks after 1 or 2 h for TNFα and IL-10. The magnitude of increase varied from modest (6-fold) to dramatic (64-fold). In contrast to LF and LPS treatment, LFcin induced a slight increase in TNFα mRNA in both cell culture types, which continued to be expressed at a higher level after 8 h. Compared with LPS-stimulated cells a combination of LF and LPS did not alter the TNFα and IL-10 expression. Simultaneous treatment of LFcin and LPS could increase the TNFα mRNA production, in contrast to LPS treatment alone. The effects of all agents used on cytokine mRNA expression were dose dependent. The NF-κB gene expression in monocytes and leukocytes was not affected by the treatment with LF andLFcin. The ability of LF and LFcin to bind free LPS and to interfere with the LBP/CD14 pathway has been suggested to restrain the activity of this bacterial immuno-stimulatory compound. These studies could not reveal these neutralizing effects because LF and LFcin showed no inhibitory activities on the cytokine production at several LPS concentrations.

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The authors wish to make the following correction to the Conflict of Interests section in their published paper [1]:"Christian Kunz and Solveig Peters are employees and Nina Möker and Robert Rauchenberger are former employees of MorphoSys AG, which owns the Ylanthia antibodies described in the publication."The manuscript will be updated and the original will remain online on the article webpage.