Monoclonal antibodies against human gastric cancer

Spleen cells from Balb/c mice immunized with five human gastric cancer cell lines in sequence were fused with murine myeloma cell line SP2/0, and hybridomas 3F4, 3G9 and 3H11, secreting monoclonal antibodiees (MoAbs) against gastric cancer, were obtained through selective culture and screening. These MoAbs have both good selectivity and a high positive rate of reaction for gastric cancer, reaching 5/5 and 84.8% to 93.5% for gastric cancer cells and tissues respectively. The reaction of MoAbs with normal cells and tissues was neglible. The corresponding antigens of the MoAbs were sensitive to digestion by trypsin and pronase and resistant to treatment with sodium periodate, indicating their nature as proteins. The antigen 3G9 could be visualized with Western blotting as two bands with molecular weights of 100KD and 70KD, however no band was found for antigens 3F4 and 3H11. There was a high expression of antigens in the majority of gastric cancer cells and tissues independent of histopathological type of gastric cancer. A low expression of antigens was seen with other tumors and fetal gastrointestinal tissues. These could be considered as gastric cancer-associated antigens or oncofetal antigens with a quite extensive distribution.