Anti‐bacterial antibodies in Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV)‐transformed oligoclonal B‐cell lines established from normal persons and autoimmune disease patients

We have established 950 and 430 oligoclonal B‐lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) from two normal persons and eight autoimmune disease patients, respectively by using Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV)‐induced transformation. To re‐evaluate the EBV technique for production of human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) related to infectious disease, we screened these oligoclonal LCLs for antibodies against 31 bacterial strains systematically. A total of 74 cultures out of 1380 were reactive to a total of 18 strains out of 31. Among these, eight cultures showed 10‐3 antibody (Ab) titers to Pseudomonas aeruginosa serotypes C, E, F and I, Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens and Bacillus cereus. Ten cultures showed 10‐2 Ab titers toPs. aeruginosa serotypes D, E, F and I, Ps. maltophilia, Staph, epidermidis, Klebsiella ozaenae, Ser. marcescens and B. subtilis. The results reveal the further possibilities for the EBV technique to produce various infectious disease‐related human mAbs.