Expression of anti-CD4 human/murine chimeric antibody and their killer tumor activity

From the mouse hybridoma cell line secreting an anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody (McAb), total RNA was prepared. The VH and VL genes were amplified by RT-PCR with family specific primer pairs. The PCR products were cloned into pGEM-T vectors, then tranfected into JM109. The VH and VL genes were analyzed by automatic DNA sequencer. According to Kabat classification, the VH and VL genes belong to the mouse Ig heavy subgroup I (A) and k chain subgroup I, respectively. The VH and VL genes were subcloned into pγ1-Expr and pk-Expr respectively, then transfected into XL2-Blue. The VH-pγ1 and VL-pk were transfected by electroporation into mouse myeloma cell X63Ag8. 653. The transfectoma cells were selected by G418 screening, and then supernatant of cultured transfectoma were analyzed by ELISA and immunofluorescence techniques. We have acquired transfectoma cells secreting anti-CD4 chimeric antibodies. These chimeric antibodies are able to kill tumor cells specificallyin vitro.