Monoclonal antibodies against an H-2Kb-specific cytotoxic T cell clone detect several clone-specific molecules.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) were prepared from the spleen of a BALB.K mouse immunized with a H-2Kb-specific alloreactive cytolytic T cell (CTL) clone of B10.BR origin, KB5-C20. Six of these mAb were selected for specific binding to the immunizing clone. Only one of these mAb, Désiré-1, inhibited the CTL activity of clone KB5-C20. Functional and biochemical evidence showed mAb Désiré-1 to be anti-clonotypic (anti-Ti). This mAb immunoprecipitated from lysates of clone KB5-C20 a protein that migrated at 80 KD in nonreducing conditions and at 40 to 45 KD in reducing conditions. Analysis in NEPHGE resolved the latter into an acidic chain of 43 KD and a basic chain of 40 KD. An additional protein was coprecipitated at 25 KD in nonreducing and 27 KD in reducing conditions, which was distinct from the Thy-1 antigen. Expression of the clonotype defined by Désiré-1 was found on clone KB5-C20 and on clone KB5-A7 originating from the same B10.BR T cell population. These two clones exhibited a similar pattern of reactivity on H-2Kbm mutant target cells. Another clone (KB5-C1) from the same B10.BR T population showed a distinct reactivity pattern on the H-2Kbm mutant target cells and did not express the Désiré-1 clonotype, nor did Con A-activated B10.BR blast cells or H-2Kb-specific clone BM3.3 of CBA/J origin. Among the five other selected mAb, one reacted with the three Kb-specific CTL clones of B10.BR, but not with the Kb-specific clone of CBA origin, whereas the last four mAb bound only to clone KB5-C20. None of these mAb could immunoprecipitate the Ti alpha/beta chains. Ti modulation induced by mAb Désiré-1 on clone KB5-C20 did not induce comodulation of the structures bound by the other five mAb on clone KB5-C20, thus indicating that these structures were not part of the Ti-T3 complex. These results characterize a clonotypic mAb reacting with an H-2Kb-specific CTL clone that will be useful in future studies. They also indicate that screening for clone-specific mAb by selective binding assays may select for mAb against as yet undefined structures, some of which exhibit an apparently clone-specific distribution.