APPROACH FOR OBTAINING MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES TO CELL SURFACE PROTEINS

摘要

The present invention provides a novel method for producing monoclonal antibodies against a variety of mammalian antigens, and in particular, cell surface antigens that are relatively conserved between species. In a specific embodiment, the invention relates to the generation of monoclonal antibodies that specifically react with prion proteins (PrP). The method comprises combining a PrP knockout mouse and a PrP-non-expressing fusion partner for hybridoma production, thereby opening all regions and conformation of the molecule to antibody production. This approach leads to many new and useful monoclonal antibodies of varying specificities.