Human monoclonal antibodies to lung-cancer antigens.

Lymphocytes obtained from hilar and bronchial lymph nodes from 23 patients undergoing radical surgery for carcinoma of the bronchus were fused with established rat or mouse myeloma lines. 62% of the resultant hybrids were found to be secreting human Ig detected by a sensitive staphylococcal Protein A-coupled SRBC assay. Immunoglobulins synthesized by such hybrids were internally labelled with 3H-lysine and their antibody activity against a variety of membrane preparations determined. Nine monoclonal antibodies were found which bound to molecules on lung-cancer membranes and not on normal lung membranes from the same patient.