RETINOBLASTOMA PROTEIN MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES WITH NOVEL CHARACTERISTICS

We have developed a family of monoclonal antibodies directed against t he retinoblastoma gene product (p110(RB)). One of these monoclonal ant ibodies, 3C8, binds p110(RB) near the C-terminal end of the protein (a a886-aa905). It was characterized by immunoblotting, ELISA, fluorescen ce-activated flow cytometry and immunohistostaining. It was shown to b e useful for the detection of p110(RB) in formalin-fixed and paraffin- embedded tissue sections. Because 3C8 binds outside of regions shown t o be involved in p110(RB) interactions with other cellular proteins, i t may be an especially useful reagent for the reliable detection of p1 10(RB) in tumor cells, and for the isolation by affinity chromatograph y of p110(RB) complexes with other cellular proteins.