Production and characterization of a monoclonal antibody able to discriminate galectin-1 from galectin-2 and galectin-3

Antisera raised against galectin-1 exhibit crossreactivities with othergalectins or related molecules. In order to overcome this problem, amonoclonal antibody to human brain galectin-1 was obtained by selectingclones without reactivity toward galectin-3. This mAb specifically boundgalectin-1 of various animal origins but neither galectin-2 nor galectin-3.Western-blotting analysis of soluble human brain extracts after 2D gelelectrophoresis revealed only the two most acidic isoforms of galectin-1.The ability of this mAb to bind galectin-1/asialofetuin complexes indicatesthat its epitope is not localized in the carbohydrate recognition domain ofgalectin-1. This particularity induces with efficiency its monospecificity.