Monocolonal antibodies

• production: 1. Inject mouse with antigen (foreign proteins off pathogen)

  2.lymphocytes (white blood cells) (it will produce antibodies against antigen)

  3. collect lymphocytes (these cells do not divide by mitosis)

  4.fuse lymphocytes with a tumor cell( very good at dividing by mitosis)

  5. cell produced is called HYBRIDOMA

  • these cells now produce antibodies and divide by mitosis(mass produce antibodies)

  6. allow the hybridoma cells to divide and clone identically ( makes identical antibodies)

  7. monoclonal antibody collected and purified
• Monoclonal antibodies are specific to one BINDING SITE on one antigen - means they can target specific cells in the body which means monoclonal antibodies have lots of uses
• Uses of monoclonal antibodies

  • Pregnancy tests- detect specific hormone in urine,
  • measure levels of hormones in blood / detect pathogens in blood
  • locate/identify specific molecules in a cell - monoclonal antibody attatched to neon dyes and when it sticks to the specific molecule and shows its location
  • treating disease - antibodies specific to cancer cells and attach a toxic drug to it and it attaches to cancer cell (and doesn’t harm other cells in the body)
• Disadvantage- can produce harmful side effects