Cross reactivity between many anti-human antibodies for their hamster homologs provide the tools to study the signal transduction pathway activated by asbestos and SV40 in the malignant mesothelioma model

The aim of this study was to test the possibility of using human antibodies to study the pathogenic mechanism of SV40 and asbestos in a hamster mesothelioma model. The cellular lysates from human and hamster primary mesothelial cells were tested by Western blot analysis. All of the antibodies we tested (HGF, Notch, VEGF, Sp1, p53, PP2A, p-ERK1, p-c-jun, Fra1, Fra2, MMP1, MMP9, NFκB p65, IκB, GAPDH) cross-reacted with their hamster counterparts. These data indicate that hamster mesothelioma model and more in general hamster experimental model, can be used for functional studies because many mouse, rabbit, and goat monoclonal antibodies prepared against human antigens cross-react with their hamster counterparts.