Syndecan-1 (CD138), a member of integral membrane heparin sulfate proteoglycans, is an essential matrix receptor for maintaining the normal morphological phenotypes. In this study, we generated a specific mouse anti-human syndecan-1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4B3 and identified it by competition assay with the available syndecan-1 mAb (BB4). Stained by 4B3, the expression of syndecan-1 was detected on tumor cell lines, such as 8226, U266, XG-1, XG-2, Daudi and Jurkat. The expression was also found on neuron stem cells. It was established that 4B3 mAb could inhibit XG-1 and XG-2 proliferation. The data not only determined that 4B3 mAb was a functional anti-human syndecan-1 mAb, but also indicated that syndecan-1 might be a valuable surface antigen and play an important role in regulation of tumor pathology and differentiation of neural stem cells. This novel antibody 4B3 may be value of study of tumor proliferation/survival mechanism and contributes to diagnosis and treatment of diverse diseases.