Abstract
Interferon (IFN) is a protein that can be characterized into five different classes: alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (γ), tau (τ) and omega (ω). In particular, IFN-α was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia in 1986. It was the first recombinant biotherapeutic to gain regulatory approval, laying the groundwork for subsequent worldwide approval for numerous other modern biotechnologic products. Today, IFN-α is approved in more than 40 countries for the treatment of 14 malignancies and virologic diseases. For examples, it is used as adjuvant therapy in metastatic melanoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, and chronic hepatitis B and C.In this study, IFN-α2a –IgG4 Fc was used to immunize Balb/c mice to prepare IFN-a specific monoclonal antibodies. Screening of hybridomas secreting antibodies to human IFN-αwas performed by ELISA and limiting dilution. We obtained two monoclonal antibodies for constructing ELISA for IFN-α. These two antibodies recognize different epitopes on human IFN-α, because they bind to IFN-α without interference. We also conjugated one antibody to CNBr-S4B beads to prepare an affinity column for the purification of human IFN-α. The second IFN-α-specific monoclonal antibody was conjugated with biotin.