Monoclonal antibodies

• Where are they made?


  Lab
• How do you make them on a large scale?

  You need lots of b cell clones but they dont divide quickly
• How can you produce lots of b cells quickly?

  Combine b cells and fast dividing tumour cells
• What does combining b cells and fast dividing tumour cells make?


  Hybridomas
• What is a hybridoma?

  Combination of b cells and fast dividing tumour cells which produce lots of b cells and divide very quickly which also means lots of antibodies are produced
• How how more hybridomas made?

  Leave in a petri dish and it will make multiple identical hybridoma with lots of identical antibodies that we can collect and purify
• How do we get the b cells to produce the corrct antibodies?

  Inject an animal (mouse) with the antigen we want our antibody and b cell to bind to. The animals body will then react to the antigen and will produce lots of b cells that are specific to the antigen which will then be combined with fast dividing tumour cells making hybridomas
• You can also attach things to the bottom of antibodies
• What can you attach to the bottom of antibodies?


  Drugs, floresant proteins and radioactive material- enables us to speacialise antibodies to target specific diseases. eg. cancer- drugs or radioactive materials can kill the cancer cells