Production of monoclonal antibodies against classical swine fever virus and their use for antigenic characterization of Japanese isolates.

Twenty monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced against the virulent ALD or vaccinal GPE- strains of classical swine fever (CSF) virus. The MAbs were divided into 7 groups on the basis of the difference in the reaction spectrum to various CSF and bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease (BVD-MD) viruses. The panel of the MAbs could classify 20 CSF viruses into 6 types, and could discriminate between not only CSF and BVD-MD viruses but also the vaccinal GPE- strain and the field isolates of CSF virus. The results indicated that the MAbs were useful for diagnosis and investigation of CSF viruses.