Characterisation of renal antigens on distinct parts of the human nephron by monoclonal antibodies.

Ten monoclonal antibodies (TN 1-TN 10) directed against different renal antigens of distinct sites of the human nephron were derived from a fusion between P3-NS1/1-Ag4-1 mouse myeloma and spleen cells of a mouse hyperimmunized against isolated human kidney cells. Two of these reagents (TN 1, TN 10) were shown by immunoperoxidase labelling on frozen sections of five normal kidneys and of other selected human organs, as well as by immunofluorescence studies on normal peripheral blood cells and selected lymphohematopoietic cell lines, to detect antigens exclusively expressed on visceral glomerular or proximal tubular epithelial cells. The other eight antibodies were found to react with different determinants shared between renal structures, muscle cells, different epithelia, B-lymphocytes and granulocytes. In heterogeneous cultures of isolated kidney cells these monoclonal reagents could be used to identify distinct cell types of tubular origin. Thus such hybridoma-derived antibodies provide new tools to correlate structural characteristics of various renal epithelial cells with their functional properties and will contribute to the study of their influence on immunologically mediated kidney injuries in different forms of glomerulonephritis in man.