The selection and characterization of human monoclonal antibodies to human cytomegalovirus.

This communication describes the application of Epstein-Barr virus lymphocyte transformation technology to the production of human monoclonal antibodies specific for human cytomegalovirus. A group of such IgG antibodies have been characterized in terms of subclass, light-chain composition, specificity for particular viral proteins and neutralizing capacity. These results have shown that the production of antibodies by transformed lymphocytes is representative of the in vivo human immune response; the antibodies produced may therefore be of therapeutic value. This approach should prove to be useful for the identification of specific virion proteins which are antigenic in humans and for the in vitro evaluation of the immune responses to synthetic peptide vaccines.