Establishment of a Monoclonal Antibody against CD81 that Decreases the Proliferation of Rat Glioma Cells

Abstract

CD81 belongs to a family of cell-surface proteins (tetraspanins) known to be up-regulated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synoviocytes. Recently, we showed that small interfering RNA targeting CD81 (CD81 siRNA) has a therapeutic effect on RA. We also showed that CD81 siRNA decreased the expression of TNF-α in SW982 cells, suggesting that TNF-α stimulates the expression of synoviolin via CD81. Here, we show that a monoclonal antibody (MAb) against CD81, which was raised by immunization with recombinant CD81, decreased the proliferation of rat C6 glioma cells, showing that this antibody is functionally active and probably inhibits cell proliferation through the inhibition of CD81 function on the cell surface.