The production of a mouse monoclonal antibody, Ki-67, is described. The Ki-67 antibody recognized a nuclear antigen present in proliferating cells, but absent in resting cells. Immunostainings with Ki-67 revealed nuclear reactivity in cells of germinal centres of cortical follicles, cortical thymocytes, neck cells of gastrointestinal mucosa, undifferentiated spermatogonia and cells of a number of human cell lines. The Ki-67 antibody did not react with cells known to be in a resting stage, such as lymphocytes, monocytes, parietal cells and Paneth's cells of gastrointestinal mucosa, hepatocytes, renal cells, mature sperm cells, brain cells, etc. Expression of the antigen recognized by Ki-67 could be induced in peripheral blood lymphocytes after stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin, whereas it disappeared from HL-60 cells stimulated with phorbol esters to differentiate into mature macrophages in a resting stage. These findings suggest that Ki-67 is directed against a nuclear antigen associated with cell proliferation. A first series of immunostainings of tumour biopsies indicated that Ki-67 may be a potent tool for easy and quick evaluation of the proportion of proliferating cells in a tumour.

Ki-1 is a monoclonal antibody (raised against a Hodgkin's disease- derived cell line) that, in biopsy tissue affected by Hodgkin's disease, reacts selectively with Reed-Sternberg cells. The expression of Ki-1 antigen has been analyzed by immunocytochemical techniques in a wide range of human tissue and cell samples, including fetal tissue, malignant lymphomas (290 cases), and mitogen- and virus-transformed peripheral blood lymphocytes. The antigen was detectable on a variable proportion of cells in all cases of lymphomatoid papulosis and angio- immunoblastic lymphadenopathy and in 28% of the cases of peripheral T cell lymphomas (including lympho-epithelioid lymphomas). It was also expressed (more strongly) on tumor cells in 45 cases of diffuse large- cell lymphoma, most of which had originally been diagnosed as malignant histiocytosis or anaplastic carcinoma, because of their bizarre morphology. However, all of these cases lacked macrophage and epithelial antigens. Thirty-five cases expressed T cell-related antigens (associated in nine cases with the coexpression of B cell- related antigens), seven bore B cell-related antigens alone, and three were devoid of T and B cell markers. DNA hybridization with a JH specific probe showed a germline configuration in 11 cases of T cell phenotype, in two cases lacking T and B cell antigens, and in one case of mixed T/B phenotype, while rearrangement was found in two cases of clear B cell type and in one mixed T/B case. Expression of the Ki-1 antigen could be induced, together with interleukin 2 (IL 2) receptor, on normal lymphoid cells of both T and B cell type by exposure to phytohemagglutinin, human T leukemia viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, or Staphylococcus aureus. The results obtained indicate that Ki-1 antigen is an inducible lymphoid-associated molecule that identifies a group of hitherto poorly characterized normal and neoplastic large lymphoid cells. Tumors comprised solely of these cells show both morphological and immunological similarities to the neoplastic cells in Hodgkin's disease. This suggests that both disorders represent the neoplastic proliferation of activated lymphoid cells of either T cell or, less commonly, B cell origin. Disorders in which only a minority of cells express Ki-1 antigen (lymphomatoid papulosis, angio-immunoblastic lymphadenopathy, and certain T cell lymphomas) probably represent lesions in which only some of the abnormal cells have transformed into an “activation state.” In direct support of this view is the finding that the Ki-1 expression in these lesions is accompanied by the expression of HLA-DR and IL 2 receptors.

No abstract

Ki-1 is a monoclonal antibody (raised against a Hodgkin's disease- derived cell line) that, in biopsy tissue affected by Hodgkin's disease, reacts selectively with Reed-Sternberg cells. The expression of Ki-1 antigen has been analyzed by immunocytochemical techniques in a wide range of human tissue and cell samples, including fetal tissue, malignant lymphomas (290 cases), and mitogen- and virus-transformed peripheral blood lymphocytes. The antigen was detectable on a variable proportion of cells in all cases of lymphomatoid papulosis and angio- immunoblastic lymphadenopathy and in 28% of the cases of peripheral T cell lymphomas (including lympho-epithelioid lymphomas). It was also expressed (more strongly) on tumor cells in 45 cases of diffuse large- cell lymphoma, most of which had originally been diagnosed as malignant histiocytosis or anaplastic carcinoma, because of their bizarre morphology. However, all of these cases lacked macrophage and epithelial antigens. Thirty-five cases expressed T cell-related antigens (associated in nine cases with the coexpression of B cell- related antigens), seven bore B cell-related antigens alone, and three were devoid of T and B cell markers. DNA hybridization with a JH specific probe showed a germline configuration in 11 cases of T cell phenotype, in two cases lacking T and B cell antigens, and in one case of mixed T/B phenotype, while rearrangement was found in two cases of clear B cell type and in one mixed T/B case. Expression of the Ki-1 antigen could be induced, together with interleukin 2 (IL 2) receptor, on normal lymphoid cells of both T and B cell type by exposure to phytohemagglutinin, human T leukemia viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, or Staphylococcus aureus. The results obtained indicate that Ki-1 antigen is an inducible lymphoid-associated molecule that identifies a group of hitherto poorly characterized normal and neoplastic large lymphoid cells. Tumors comprised solely of these cells show both morphological and immunological similarities to the neoplastic cells in Hodgkin's disease. This suggests that both disorders represent the neoplastic proliferation of activated lymphoid cells of either T cell or, less commonly, B cell origin. Disorders in which only a minority of cells express Ki-1 antigen (lymphomatoid papulosis, angio-immunoblastic lymphadenopathy, and certain T cell lymphomas) probably represent lesions in which only some of the abnormal cells have transformed into an “activation state.” In direct support of this view is the finding that the Ki-1 expression in these lesions is accompanied by the expression of HLA-DR and IL 2 receptors.

The monoclonal antibody Ki-67 detects a nuclear antigen that is present only in proliferating cells. The aim of the present investigation was to clarify whether the Ki-67 nuclear antigen is restricted in its expression to certain phases of the cell cycle. All experiments consistently showed that the Ki-67 nuclear antigen is present in S, G2, and M phase, but is absent in G0. However, the results concerning Ki-67 antigen expression in G1 phase varied: cells passing the early events of mitogen triggered transition from G0 to G1, i.e., G1T and first G1A, lacked the Ki-67 nuclear antigen, whereas G1 cells after mitosis were constantly Ki-67-positive. This result suggests that after mitosis cells might not follow the same metabolic pathways as G0 cells do when entering G1 for the first time. Therefore, we suggest that the early stages of mitogen stimulation represent initial sequences of proliferation and not parts of the cell cycle. Because our data show that the Ki-67 nuclear antigen is present throughout the cell cycle, immunostaining with monoclonal antibody Ki-67 provides a reliable means of rapidly evaluating the growth fraction of normal and neoplastic human cell populations.