Monoclonal antibodies

• How are monoclonal antibodies made with mouse?

  • Antigens are injected into the mouse
  • The immune system creates lymphocytes which produce antibodies for the specific antigen
  • Spleen cells which produce the lymphocytes are removed from the mouse
  • Spleen cells are fused with cancer cells to make hybridomas
  • These divide uncontrollably, making many copies
  • They are screened for production of anitbody
  • They clonaly expand
  • They are extracted as monoclonal antibodies
• What are the uses of monoclonal antibodies?

  • Pregnancy tests or diagnosis tests ie covid
  • bind to a fluorecent dye to locate specific molecules in a cell or tissue
  • Treat disease ie cancer
• How are monoclonal antibodies used in pregnancy/diagnosis tests?

  • Pregnant woman producses a HCG hormone (which has antigen properties) which is detected in urine
  • Monoclonal antibodies are tagged with a dye - can bind on to HCG antigens and cause a colour change on the test strip, indicating a positive result
• What is the test and control strip on a pregnancy test?

  • Control strip - always goes coloured and shoes the test is working
  • Test strip goes coloured if the result is positive
• How can a monoclonal antibody be made for cancer?

  • Identify cancer cell
  • Identify antibody needed
  • Go through process to make MA
• How can MAs make treatment for cancer?

  • Cancerous cells have antigens which the MA can bind to
  • They then clump the cancerous cells together - easier to identify, can then be removed or treated
• How can MAs carry drugs?

  • They can have drugs for cancer attached to them
  • They will then carry the drug to the cancerous cell to treat
• What is the benefit of treating cancer with MA?

  • Your not killing healthy cells as you would in chemo
• How can MAs be used with dyes?

  • Attachated with flourecent dyes to identify disease in the body easily
• What are limitations of MAs?

  • Unethical - kills mice :(
  • Very expensive
  • Side effects