Specificity of monoclonal antibodies against Pneumocystis carinii and application of these antibodies to the immunodiagnosis

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BALB/c mice were immunized with lung homogenates from human, rats and nude mice infected with Pneumocystis carinii or the organisms separated from those by the gradient discontinuous centrifugation method. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were produced and the P. carinii organisms reactive for those antibodies were characterized. The reactions of antibodies to P. carinii from homologous and heterologous hosts were analyzed by immunofluorescent antibody and immunoblotting techniques. Each polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies gave strong fluorescence to the pellicle of the organisms from homologous hosts. However, they showed little cross-reactivity with P. carinii isolates from haterologous hosts. Antigenic differences were observed among the organisms from different hosts. Furthermore, by immunoblotting using ^<125>I-labeled secondary antibodies, the major band seen in human P. carinii was an antigen of 80kd. In P. carinii from rats and mouse, 120 / 52kd antigens and 120, 70 / 58kd antigens were also prominent respectively. For practical immunodiagnosis of human pneumocytosis, further studies are being conducted using the monoclonal antibodies against human isolates.