A NEW MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY (A78-G A7) TO THE THOMSEN-FRIEDENREICH PAN-TUMOR ANTIGEN/

A new monoclonal antibody to the Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) antigen (or , more precisely, epitope; Gal beta 1-3GalNAc-) has been developed tha t is specific for both anomeric forms of this disaccharide (TFalpha an d TFbeta, including related structures on glycolipids), and not assay restricted, We demonstrate that this avid antibody (A78-G/A7) is well suited for immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded and cryosectioned tissues, immunoblotting, ELISA techniques, and hemagglutination. Immu nohistochemistry on paraffin sections does not require proteolytic or microwave pretreatment, The binding characteristics of this antibody a re largely independent of variations in pH (6.0-8.2) and temperature ( 4-37 degrees C), Immunoblotting with KG-1 (human acute myelogenous leu kemia) cells revealed a series of TF-active glycoproteins with a main band at about 155 kDa, Immunoprecipitation was performed using a new t echnique applicable to IgM-type antibodies.