Preparation of a monoclonal antibody to a glycidic epitope of the epidermal growth factor receptor that recognizes inhibitors of astrocyte proliferation and reactive microglia

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Abstract
A mouse monoclonal antibody (5B9), directed against a carbohydrate epitope of human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), recognized an 81‐kDalton glycoprotein in buffer‐soluble and detergent‐solubilized rat brain extracts (BE). The glycoprotein was more abundant in extracts prepared from injured brain than in those from normal tissue. Removal from BE of the antigens recognized by 5B9 increased their astrocyte mitogenic activity. Sections of injured rat brain and cultures derived from damaged brain, enriched in microglia, showed 5B9 immunoreactivity in ED1‐positive cells. The abundance of the glycoprotein recognized by 5B9 in injured, relative to normal, tissue, suggested that molecules with EGFR immunoreactivity may be expressed in reactive microglial cells and released after injury.