Cell surface antigens of human renal cancer defined by mouse monoclonal antibodies: identification of tissue-specific kidney glycoproteins.

Seventeen monoclonal antibodies derived from fusions with spleen cells of mice immunized with established culture lines of renal cancers identified nine cell-surface antigenic systems. Six of the systems (gp160, S25, gp120r, gp120nr, gp115, and V1) represent antigens not previously described. The other three systems are related to HLA-A, -B, and -C heavy chain and A and B blood group antigens. The most restricted of the newly described antigens are gp160, S25, and gp120r. These determinants are found only on cells of renal origin, both normal and malignant, and represent differentiation antigens of human kidney. In addition to the difference in the molecular weight of two of these antigens, gp160, S25, and gp120r can be distinguished on the basis of differential expression on a panel of cultured renal cancers and normal kidney epithelium and fetal kidney cells. Glycoproteins bearing gp120r share a determinant with renal gp120nr (as indicated by sequential precipitations with monoclonal antibodies that detect gp120r and gp120nr), but gp120nr is found on a broader range of cell types, including fibroblasts and cell lines derived from lung, bladder, and colon cancers. The two other new systems, gp115 and V1, have characteristics of broadly occurring differentiation antigens but can be distinguished from each other and from gp120nr by differences in molecular weight, heat stability (V1 is a heat-stable determinant), and differential expression on cell types of diverse origin.