Membrane 126-kilodalton phosphoglycoprotein associated with human carcinomas identified by a hybridoma antibody to mammary carcinoma cells

Abstract

A large number of hybridomas producing antibodies to the membrane fraction of a human mammary carcinoma cell line have been produced. Among those hybridoma antibodies that bound to exposed surface membrane epitopes on the human mammary carcinoma cell line BT-20, one has been found to bind to all tested breast carcinoma cell lines as well as to a number of other human carcinomas by solid-phase radioimmunoassay. This hybridoma antibody, designated 10-3D2, does not bind to normal mammary epithelium, a variety of control cell lines, or selected normal human tissue homogenates. The 10-3D2 hybridoma antibody identifies by immunoprecipitation a membrane 126-kilodalton protein which is indistinguishable in different tumor cells. It is glycosylated by reference to incorporation of [3H]glucosamine and also is phosphorylated by reference to incorporation of 32P. It is present in a finely granular pattern on the cell surface of mammary carcinoma cells with concentration at the sites of apparent cell-cell contact. This 126-kilodalton phosphoglycoprotein, which we have consistently been unable to identify by immunoprecipitation of intrinsically labeled normal cells, may represent a heretofore unrecognized tumor-associated marker for human mammary carcinomas as well as certain other types of human neoplasms.