Monoclonal antibodies to Ki-67 protein suitable for immunohistochemical analysis.

Detection of cell proliferation index is widely used in experimental and clinical research. Earlier it was shown that nuclear Ki-67 protein expression is strictly related to cell proliferation. It was revealed during all active phases of the cell cycle in mammals but was absent in G0 phase, so Ki-67 presence in cell nuclei reflects a potential growth fraction of whole cell population. The main area of Ki-67 antibody application is in immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. The aim of our work was to generate mouse monoclonal antibodies for Ki-67 antigen detection in mammalian tissues and in cultured cells. His-tagged fragment of Ki-67 expressed in bacteria was used as an antigen. Antibody-producing hybridoma cells were generated by standard procedure by fusing SP2/0 myeloma cells with splenocytes of immunized mice. Monoclonal antibodies were analyzed using paraffin-embedded human melanoma tissue samples and breast cancer cell line MCF-7. It was shown that generated anti-Ki-67 antibodies revea...