期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1987
卷号:84
期号:14
页码:5053-5057
DOI:10.1073/pnas.84.14.5053
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Tumor cells from a patient with B-cell lymphoma were fused with a mouse myeloma cell line. A set of heterohybridomas was thus derived, each of which represented a separate clonal derivative from the tumor cell population. The immunoglobulins secreted by these cell lines reacted variably with a panel of anti-idiotypic antibodies, indicating that the tumor was heterogeneous; however, one antibody, 4D6, reacted strongly with the product of all the heterohybridomas. cDNA for the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable-region genes expressed in these heterohybridomas was cloned and sequenced. Comparison of these sequences indicated that the cells expressing them were clonally related but that they had undergone considerable mutation. Despite mutation, the cells in this tumor population continued to express a functional immunoglobulin molecule and to retain, over a span of 3 years, the idiotypic determinant defined by the 4D6 monoclonal antibody. Thus a selective force existed within the host to retain tumor cells bearing an immunoglobulin molecule with a particular idiotypic structure.