Antibody against CD20 in patients with B cell malignancy

Cancer patients may make antibodies against antigens on the surface of thei r malignant cells due either to the expression of unique antigens or to dys regulated responses to self antigens. Patients with B cell malignancy frequ ently produce autoantibodies and may therefore be a source of immunoglobuli n genes for the production of phage display antibody libraries directed aga inst tumour-associated antigens. Patients with autoimmune disease have circ ulating antibodies against lymphocyte surface antigens, and may also provid e a good starting point for the production of a library of lymphocyte-react ive antibody structures. In this study, plasma and serum samples from patie nts with B cell malignancy or Sjogren's syndrome and from healthy controls were screened for antibodies against the B cell membrane antigens CD20. Whi le the majority of samples showed very low reactivity, some individuals did show significant and reproducible binding to CD20. To identify a good dono r for library construction, it would be advisable to screen donors for anti body against the antigens of interest. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.