Monoclonal antibodies for human pituitary glycoprotein hormones and rabbit immunoglobulin

The authors have produced monoclonal antibodies to human TSH and LH, and investigated these with regard to affinity, specificity and chain class. They tried to assess the predictive value of measurements on the serum of immunised animals, as a guide to the likely yield of monoclonal antibodies from a given fusion. Monoclonal antibodies may also be useful secondary reagents in assays not carried out on a large scale and for which satisfactory antisera already exist. A large number of radioimmunoassays make use of antisera raised in rabbits. The authors produced monoclonal antibodies to rabbit immunoglobulin in order to assess their suitability both as a reagent for separating antibody-bound and free ligand in radioimmunoassays, and as an indirect labelling reagent for specific antibodies in immunoradiometric assays. (Auth.)