Abstract
This study is an attempt to produce and characterize murine monoclonal antibodies directed against the paratope of HSV-1 neutralizing monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibody 138 C5G10 which was neutralising and directed to 120 K antigen gB of HSV-1 was used as the idiotype. We were able to produce three Ab-2 monoclonal antibodies as characterized using immunofluorescence, ELISA and RIA. The findings of the present study suggest that two antiidiotypes 3AiB3E10 and 3AiB5D10 share the same unique fine specificity while 3AiB3C9 has a different specificity on 138 C5GI0 paratope. The utility of such ‘surrogate’ antigens in serological assays and modulation of immune response is discussed.