T lymphocytes play an important role in the immune system by recognizing foreign protein motifs on cells. T lymphocytes are stimulated to recognize these motifs through their interactions with peptide-MHC complexes (pMHC). Thus, studying pMHC is an important aspect of understanding how the immune system works, particularly with regard to the development of vaccines. Unfortunately, the detection of pMHC is largely dependent on indirect assays, due to the difficulty of producing antibodies for specific pMHC.

This invention regards the development of hybridomas (C4H3) for the production of antibodies that are highly specific for a particular pMHC complex consisting of hen egg lysozyme peptide 46-61 (HEL) and the I-A^k MHC class II molecule. These antibodies can be used for a myriad of purposes which include studying how cells form pMHC.