Production of monoclonal antibodies by genetic immunization.

Genetic immunization is a simple method for producing polyclonal antibodies in mice. To test if this approach could be used for monoclonal antibody production, biolistic transfection was used to immunize a mouse. High levels of polyclonal antibodies against human growth hormone (hGH) were elicited following three inoculations with the gene for hGH. When hybridoma cells were created from the mouse's splenocytes, approximately 17% secreted antibodies vs. hGH. Of these, some recognized only native or denatured hGH, while most recognized both forms of the protein. These findings demonstrate the utility of genetic immunization as a method to produce monoclonal antibodies.