A Novel Anti-CD44 Variant 3 Monoclonal Antibody C(44)Mab-6 Was Established for Multiple Applications

Cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) promotes tumor progression through the recruitment of growth factors and the acquisition of stemness, invasiveness, and drug resistance. CD44 has multiple isoforms including CD44 standard (CD44s) and CD44 variants (CD44v), which have common and unique functions in tumor development. Therefore, elucidating the function of each CD44 isoform in a tumor is essential for the establishment of CD44-targeting tumor therapy. We have established various anti-CD44s and anti-CD44v monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) through the immunization of CD44v3–10-overexpressed cells. In this study, we established C(44)Mab-6 (IgG(1), kappa), which recognized the CD44 variant 3-encoded region (CD44v3), as determined via an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. C(44)Mab-6 reacted with CD44v3–10-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells (CHO/CD44v3–10) or some cancer cell lines (COLO205 and HSC-3) via flow cytometry. The apparent K(D) of C(44)Mab-6 for CHO/CD44v3–10, COLO205, and HSC-3 was 1.5 × 10(−9) M, 6.3 × 10(−9) M, and 1.9 × 10(−9) M, respectively. C(44)Mab-6 could detect the CD44v3–10 in Western blotting and stained the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor sections in immunohistochemistry. These results indicate that C(44)Mab-6 is useful for detecting CD44v3 in various experiments and is expected for the application of tumor diagnosis and therapy.