Antibody secreting cells as specific probes for antigen identification.

Parasite specific antibody probes were prepared by harvesting lymphocytes from infected tissue and incubating them in vitro to allow the spontaneous secretion of antibodies in the culture medium by antibody secreting B cells present in the lymphocyte cultures. The culture supernatant was then used to screen Western blots of parasite antigens and resulted in the detection of antigens specific for the parasite stages present in the tissue at the time of sampling. Similar antigen recognition patterns were also observed when the cells were taken from the draining lymph nodes but the same pattern was not observed with serum taken from the same animal. The use of antibody probes obtained from in vivo induced antibody secreting B cells (ASC probes) offers a unique and universal approach to study local antibody recognition during infection.