A DNA-based immunization protocol to produce monoclonal antibodies to blood group antigens.

A major challenge facing transfusion medicine is the establishment of immunological methods to produce specific and avid blood group typing reagents to the many polymorphic blood group antigens. This is especially true when sources of human antibody are limited. Based on the knowledge that inoculation with plasmid DNA can induce a humoral response in the host animal, we inoculated mice with plasmid DNA followed by a single boost injection with plasmid-transfected cells that have a high level of expression of the same target protein. Using this method, several hybridoma clones that produced strongly reactive antibodies specific for the Kell polymorphic antigens (anti-K, anti-k, anti-Kp(a)) were isolated. The monoclonal antibodies that were produced with this method have potential clinical utility for identifying a patient's blood type and for screening for antigen-negative donor blood.