Development and Immunochemical Properties of Two Monoclonal Antibodies Specific to Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

Using a hybridoma technique, spleen cells of Balb/c mice immunized with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were fused with NS-1 mouse myeloma cells. Two hybrid cell lines, clones KS-8 and KS-19, secreting monoclonal antibodies to hCG, were isolated. KS-8 and KS-19 belong to the immunoglobulin $G_1$ subclass. With the aid of a double-antibody radioimmunoassay, it was established that the KS-8 monoclonal antibody recognizes an immunodeterminant of the $\beta$-subunit of hCG, whereas the KS-19 monoclonal antibody recognizes an epitope present on the $\alpha$-subunit of hCG. The KS-8 monoclonal antibody specifically reacts with human chorionic gonadotropin and shows cross-reactivity of less than 0.3% to other related human glycoprotein hormones. On the other hand, using a hemagglutination test based on antibody-induced agglutination of sheep red blood cells coated with hCG, It was shown that only the KS-19 monoclonal antibody was capable of inducing a positive reaction, although both monoclonal antibodies had similar binding capacity to the coated cells. The results from the dual screening procedures demonstrate that KS-8 and KS-19 monoclonal antibodies show high sensitivity in two different assays, and are hence useful for the qualitative and quantitative determination of hCG by both radioimmunoassay and hemagglutination inhibition tests.