The antigenic topography of human growth hormone.

Murine monoclonal antibodies (MAb) have been used as tools to probe the antigenic topography of human growth hormone (hGH). Mapping experiments were carried out by testing the ability of paired MAb to bind simultaneously or separately to 125I-hGH. A putative three-dimensional model of the relative distribution of 20 hGH epitopes indicated that they covered the entire molecular surface, showing the following essential characteristics. A domain of unique hGH specificity representing approximately 20% of the whole area was detected, as well as the presence of a discontinuous band of immunological identity between hGH and human placental lactogen (hPL) occupying 30% of the molecular surface. The rest of the surface (about 50%) displayed only partial cross-reactivity with hPL. Three restricted antigenic areas were also recognized. One of them appeared to correlate with a conformational change induced by the adsorption of the protein to plastic surfaces and the other two showed cross-reactivity with human prolactin and heterologous GH, respectively.