Characterization of a human monoclonal antibody with broad reactivity to malignant tumor cells.

Lymphocytes from mediastinal lymph nodes of 9 patients with primary lung cancer were fused with murine myeloma cells (P3U1). One of the clones (4G12) was stable for secretion (10 micrograms/ml) of human IgM lambda for 24 months. The antigen detected by 4G12 was sensitive to both trypsin and periodic acid-Schiff treatment. It immunoprecipitated a glycoprotein with an Mr of 65,000 upon analysis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reduced conditions. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that 4G12 possessed a high reactivity to squamous cell carcinomas of the lung (29 of 29) and also reacted with other lung carcinomas [adenocarcinomas (14 of 20) and large cell carcinomas (3 of 8)] and with some nonpulmonary malignant tumors (15 of 56). However, it did not react with small cell carcinomas of the lung. No benign tumors (0 of 26) so far tested have been positive. 4G12 did not react with most of the normal tissues; an exception was that it was weakly reactive on the glandular cells of the trachea and bronchi and on the proximal tubular cells of the kidneys. Thus 4G12 showed a broad reactivity to malignant tumors (68% of lung carcinomas, 27% of nonpulmonary carcinomas, and 0% of benign tumors). The reactivity of 4G12 on tissues from squamous cell carcinomas of the lung indicated that the expression of the antigenic determinant was much more in the well-differentiated grade than in the poorly differentiated grade. Thus the antigen detected by 4G12 appears to be related to tumor differentiation. Moreover, fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis demonstrated that the expression of the antigen epitope depended on the cell cycle (G2-M). These data suggest that the 4G12 monoclonal antibody detects a new tumor-associated antigen that is recognized by the human immune system.