USE OF AN ANTIBODY RICIN A-CHAIN CONJUGATE TO DELETE NEOPLASTIC B-CELLS FROM HUMAN-BONE MARROW

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 62  (2) , 327-332
Abstract
Affinity-purified rabbit antibody to human .lambda. and .kappa. chains (R.alpha.H.lambda..kappa.) was conjugated to the A-chain of the plant toxin, ricin. The resulting immunotoxin (R.alpha.H.lambda..kappa.-A) killed cells from the tumor cell line Daudi, which bears surface Ig, but was nontoxic to the CFU-E [erythroid colony forming unit], BFU-E [erythropoietic burst forming cell] and CFU-GM [granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cell] of human bone marrow. R.alpha.H.lambda..kappa.-A eliminated 99% of clonogenic Daudi cells that were mixed with marrow cells in vitro, without demonstrable toxicity to hematopoietic cells. Thus, in vitro treatment of marrow with R.alpha.H.lambda..kappa.-A may increase the incidence of cure following autologous bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of human B-cell malignancies.