AJP - Renal Physiology, Vol 248, Issue 1 1-F7, Copyright © 1985 by American Physiological Society
Immunodissection: use of monoclonal antibodies to isolate specific types of renal cells
W. L. Smith and A. Garcia-Perez
Several laboratories have described antibodies that are directed against
cell surface antigens unique to different renal cell types. It can
reasonably be assumed that each different type of renal cell possesses one
or more unique antigenic determinants. In principle, it should be possible
to prepare monoclonal antibodies against these cell-specific antigens and
to use the antibodies as immunoaffinity reagents to isolate populations of
specific renal cell types. We employed this approach in one instance to
isolate canine cortical collecting tubule (CCT) cells. Approximately 10(7)
canine CCT cells can be obtained from 5 g of canine renal cortex. This
compares with an estimate of 10(3) to 10(4) CCT cells that can be
reasonably obtained by microdissection. The availability of relatively
large numbers of cells makes it possible to study in greater detail the
cellular physiology and biochemistry of tubule-specific processes such as
solute and water transport and hormone action. Our experiences in
attempting to isolate canine CCT cells and other renal epithelia have
indicated that the ideal monoclonal antibody for immunodissection should 1)
interact with only one type of renal cell, 2) be directed against a
determinant present in relative abundance, 3) be noncytotoxic, and 4) be an
immunoglobulin G. Described in this review are some conceptual and
practical aspects of the methods that can be used to develop B
lymphocyte-myeloma hybrids producing such ideal monoclonal antibodies and
to isolate renal cells using cell-specific monoclonal antibodies.
