HUMAN HYBRIDOMAS FROM MALIGNANT GLIOMAS

Intratumoral lymphocytes from 12 patients undergoing craniotomy for malignant glioma were fused with a specially derived human myeloma line LICR-LON-HMy2. 71 stable hybridomas were obtained from 5 of the 12 patients. Such hybridomas had a DNA content equal to the sum of that present in lymphocytes and the parent myeloma. The hybridoma supernatants contained human monoclonal immunoglobulins. Gliomabinding activity was detected in 7 out of the 71 supernatants. These results suggest that malignant gliomas contain a population of B lymphocytes which may be involved in host defence against the tumour.