We prepared recombinant immunotoxins in Escherichia coli in which the VH or VL domains of mAb B3 were fused to a truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE) (PE38KDEL). mAb B3 binds to a carbohydrate Ag found on the surfaces of many types of cancers and only a few normal tissues. PE38KDEL is a 38-kDa form of PE (66 kDa) that is missing the cell-binding domain of PE and has the carboxyl end changed from REDLK to KDEL. We show that immunotoxins in which the H chain or the L chain V region is fused to PE38KDEL bind to and kill carcinoma cells containing the B3 Ag. B3 Ag-negative cells were not affected. The cytotoxicity of these molecules is between 20- and 100-fold less than B3(Fv)-immunotoxins, containing both the H and L chain V regions. The VL-containing toxin was more active than the VH-containing toxin, indicating that the L chain of mAb B3 probably contributes more to Ag-binding than the H chain. Refolding experiments show that B3(VL)-PE38KDEL aggregates less than the VH-derivative or than a single chain immunotoxin B3(Fv)-PE38KDEL, which contains both domains in a single chain form. Furthermore, in addition to monomers, active homodimers of B3(VH)- and B3(VL)-PE38KDEL were obtained from renaturation experiments. The VL-toxin dimers, which might have their binding regions arranged in a manner similar to Bence Jones proteins (L chain homodimers), were found to have almost the same cytotoxicity as the monomers, whereas the VH-toxin dimers had decreased cytotoxic activity.