Vol. 150, No. 3, 1988 BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS February 15, 1988 Pages 931-936 CARBOXYETHYLY - AMINOBUTYRIC ACID, A POLYAMINE DERIVATIVE, IMPROVES THE RECOVERY OF EBV-TRANSFORMED LYMPHOCYTES Antonella Cerino*, Marco Bestagno*, Marco Colonna, Fernando Fussi and Giulia C.B. Astaldi Ricotti* * Istituto di Genetica Biochimica ed Evoluzionistica de1 C.N.R., Via Abbiategrasso, 207, 27100 Pavia - Italy ^Istituto Nazionale per la Ricarca sul Cancro, 15132 Genova - Italy ' Istituto di Chimica Biologica, Universita di Parma - Italy Received November 30, 1987 SUMMARY: A polyamine derivative, carboxyethyl - Aminobutyric Acid (CEGABA), induces the formation of a large number of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) transformed lymphocytes, when added to the culture medium immediately after EBV infection. However, CEGABA shows only a moderate effect on the stability of EBV-transformed cell lines over time, and does not affect the growth of stabilized cell lines. It is possible that CEGABA acts on cells other than EBV transformed lymphocytes (in fact, after EBV infection all types of mononuclear cells from the blood are present in the culture) and indirectly promotes the growth of EBV transformed lymphocytes. 0 1988 Academic Press, Inc. Murine monoclonal antibodies (Moabs) are very useful for investigative and diagnostic purposes. However, human Moabs will be necessary for therapy, to recognize polymorphyc epitopes, to study autoantibodies, etc. Although several laboratories have produced human Moabs, several technical problems remain to be solved before their production will become simple and reproducible. To develop human Moabs three methods are mainly used (1): A) Fusion of human lymphocytes with human myeloma cell lines. B) Fusion of human lymphocytes with murine myeloma cell lines. C) Transformation of human lymphocytes with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). 1 Correspondence: G.C.B. Astaldi Ricotti - Istituto di Genetica Biochimica ed Evoluzionistica de1 C.N.R., Via Abbiategrasso 207 - 27100 Pavia, Italy. THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS WERE USED: EBV, Epstein Barr Virus; Moab, monoclonal antibody; CEGABA, CarboxyethylT- Aminodutiric Acid; ELISA, enzyme linked immunosorbant assay; FCS, foetal calf serum, PBS, phosphate buffered saline; Ig, Immunoglobulin, IL-l, interleukin 1. 0006-291X/88 $1.50 931 Copyright 0 1988 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.