Differentiation of mumps virus strains with monoclonal antibody to the HN glycoprotein.

A hybridoma cell line secreting antibody of the immunoglobulin G3 isotype with kappa light chains and with activity against the HN glycoprotein of the Kilham strain of mumps virus was established. The antibody exhibited structural homogeneity in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and had a microheterogeneous isoelectric spectrum characteristic of an antibody of monoclonal origin. The specificity of the monoclonal antibody, shown by immunoprecipitation performed with radiolabeled virus and infected cell lysates, was for the larger mumps virus glycoprotein. In functional assays the antibody inhibited the hemagglutinating and neuraminidase activities and neutralized the infectivity of the homologous Kilham strain of virus and clearly differentiated this strain from two heterologous strains, Enders and O'Take. The antibody was markedly less effective with the O'Take strain than with either the Kilham or Enders strain in inhibiting both hemagglutination and neuraminidase activity against the macromolecular substrate fetuin. The inhibition of the neuraminidase activity of the Kilham strain was independent of substrate size, the antibody inhibiting the hydrolysis of both fetuin and the trisaccharide neuraminlactose. By contrast, the antibody did not inhibit the hydrolysis of neuraminlactose by the two heterologous mumps strains. These results provide the first demonstration of antigenic differences between mumps virus strains and highlight the utility of monoclonal antibody in analyzing the structural basis underlying functional activities of the HN glycoproteins.