Monoclonal antibodies capable of causing hemolysis of neuraminidase-treated human erythrocytes by homologous complement

As human E (HuE) treated with neuraminidase (Neu) are resistant to hemolysis by human serum but are readily lysed by heterologous serum via the alternative C pathway, we attempted to produce mAb which might modify Neu-treated HuE (Neu-HuE) so as to render them sensitive to homologous C. A hybridoma, clone -1F5, was obtained by screening for antibody which caused hemolysis of Neu-HuE by human serum via the alternative C pathway. We have shown that this antibody (1F5) of IgG1 isotype blocks the action of a 20-kDa membrane inhibitor capable of interfering with the terminal step in the homologous C cascade. The antigenic molecule can be termed HRF20, which stands for homologous restriction factor (HRF) with m.w. 20,000, because its function is essentially the same as that of HRF (68,000) reported by others.