Detection of murine immunoglobulin in human tissues following therapeutic infusion of monoclonal antibody.

A class switch variant of hybridoma CO19-9 secreting IgG2a antibodies was shown to have the same immunoperoxidase binding pattern in human tissue as the IgG1 antibody secreted by the parental hybridoma. The IP tissue binding of GA73.3 and 17-1A monoclonal antibodies which have been suggested to bind to structurally related antigens were compared; although quite similar in distribution, some differences were noted. GA73.3 bound to 12/12 colon carcinomas compared to 17-1A which reacted with 11/12 tumors. In several cases, the percentage of cells reactive with GA73.3 (90-100%) exceeded those reactive with 17-1A (10-25%). Additionally, the intensity of reactivity for GA73.3 was consistently greater than that seen with 17-1A. The detection of murine antibody bound to human tissues following therapeutic infusion of 19-9 IgG2a or GA73.3 differed. Detection of antibody-antigen complexes was seen less often in patients who had received 19-9 IgG2a (2/6) than in patients who had received GA73.3 (5/5). Additionally, the presence of murine immunoglobulin was seen only in the extracellular mucin of the patients receiving 19-9 IgG2a, whereas strong cellular binding of murine immunoglobulin was noted following infusion with GA73.3.