The current management of malignant gliomas is unsatisfactory compared to other solid tumors. Expected median survival is less than one year with even the best of care. At some point in their illness, most patients with neurological tumors are capable of mounting an immune response to their disease. This study focused on the humoral immune response of brain tumor patients by preparing human-human B cell hybridomas from autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes and a human myeloma-like cell line, designated as TM-H2-SP2. Eighteen fusions were successfully performed, and 15.8% of all microwells screened contained human immunoglobulin with anti-tumor activity. Five hybridomas, designated as BT27/1A2, BT27/2A3, BT32/A6, BT34/A5, and BT54/B8 were selected for detailed study. All five produced monoclonal IgM in a range of 2.4-44 $ mu$g/ml, had a similar (but not identical) pattern of reactivity against a panel of human tumor cell lines, and did not react with normal human astrocytes. All five human monoclonal antibodies (HmAbs) recognized a subpopulation of tumor cells based on multiparameter flow cytometric studies. Cell sorting experiments suggested that the identified subpopulation may share certain properties with hypothetical tumor stem cells. Preliminary antigen characterization indicated that the HmAbs are directed to cell surface glycolipids. These HmAbs possess certain properties of reactivity that suggest potential roles for them in the future diagnosis and clinical management of human malignant gliomas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.74367 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Dan, Michael |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Division of Experimental Medicine.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001167182, proquestno: AAINN66343, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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