Preparation and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies to Double-Stranded RNA

Monoclonal antibodies to double-stranded RNA were prepared by fusing splenocytes from BALB/c mice, which had been immunized with poly A poly U and poly I poly C, with NS-I mouse myeloma cells. Of 103 independently derived hybridoma lines which secreted antibodies that reacted with dsRNA, only two competed favorably with rabbit polyclonal antiserum to poly A poly U for sites on this synthetic RNA. Further characterization of these two monoclonal antibodies showed that they could detect 3 ng poly A poly U or 10 ng poly I poly C/ml in indirect double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests (...)