Hybridoma-producing monoclonal antibodies against Legionella pneumophila were produced by the fusion of nonsecreting mouse myeloma cells (NS-1) with splenocytes of BALB/c mice immunized by heat-killed L. pneumophila of serogroup I. Of 96 wells, 85 produced clones, of which 28 were positive as measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Ten of the hybridoma supernatants, remaining positive after 2 months of culture, were tested against the other Legionella serogroups and the atypical strains. None showed significant cross-reaction. Six of the positive clones were subcloned by limiting dilution, and two subclones were put into ascites in BALB/c mice. The monoclonal antibody obtained from the II-6-18 subclone was of the gamma-3 isotype. In this report, we describe the conditions for the use of this monoclonal antibody as a diagnostic tool for the detection of serogroup I L. pneumophila.
