%0 Journal Article
%T A novel monoclonal antibody for detection of galectin-9 in tissue sections: application to human tissues infected by oncogenic viruses
%A Cl¨¦ment Barjon
%A Toshiro Niki
%A Benjamin Verillaud
%A Paule Opolon
%A Pierre Bedossa
%A Mitsuomi Hirashima
%A St¨¦phanie Blanchin
%A Michel Wassef
%A Hugo R Rosen
%A Anne-Sophie Jimenez
%A Ming Wei
%A Pierre Busson
%J Infectious Agents and Cancer
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1750-9378-7-16
%X Hybridomas were produced through immunization of mice with the recombinant c-terminus part of galectin-9 (residues 191 to 355 of the long isoform) and semi-solid fusion of spleen cells with Sp2/0 cells. Monoclonal antibodies were characterized using ELISA, epitope mapping, western blot and immunohistochemistry.We selected seven hybridomas producing antibodies reacting with our recombinant c-terminus galectin-9 in ELISA. Five of them reacted with the epitope ¡°TPAIPPMMYPHPA¡± (common to all isoforms, residues 210 to 222 of the long isoform) and stained all three isoforms of galectin-9 analysed by western blot. One of them, 1G3,demonstrated very good sensitivity and specificity when used for immunohistochemistry. Using 1G3, we could confirm the intense and constant expression of galectin-9 by Epstein-Barr virus positive malignant cells from nasopharyngeal carcinomas. In most samples, specific staining was detected in both cytoplasm and nuclei. Galectin-9 was also detected in liver biopsies from patients infected by the human hepatitis C or B viruses with expression not only in inflammatory leucocytes and Kupffer cells, but also in hepatocytes. In contrast, galectin-9 was virtually absent in non-infected liver specimens.The 1G3 monoclonal antibody will be a powerful tool to assess galectin-9 expression and distribution especially in diseases related to oncogenic viruses.
%U http://www.infectagentscancer.com/content/7/1/16/abstract