Uses of monoclonal antibodies

• Monoclonal antibodies


  Produced from a single clone of identical hybridoma cells, specific to a single binding site on one protein antigen
• Monoclonal antibodies


  • Can be produced against any antigen that we want
  • Extremely useful in medicine
• Uses of monoclonal antibodies

  • Diagnosis (e.g. pregnancy testing)
  • Measuring hormone levels in blood
  • Detecting pathogens in blood
  • Locating/identifying specific molecules in cells/tissues
  • Treating diseases (e.g. cancer)
• Pregnancy testing using monoclonal antibodies

  1. Detect a specific hormone produced by the placenta of the developing fetus

  2. Woman urinates on the test strip and looks for a reaction

  3. Test is cheap, easy to use, and highly accurate
• Measuring hormone levels in blood using monoclonal antibodies

  1. Take a blood sample

  2. Send it off for analysis

  3. Test uses monoclonal antibodies to detect the hormones
• Detecting pathogens in blood using monoclonal antibodies

  Monoclonal antibodies are completely specific to what we're looking for
• Locating/identifying specific molecules in cells/tissues using monoclonal antibodies

  1. Monoclonal antibodies are attached to fluorescent dyes

  2. Antibodies stick to specific molecules within the cell

  3. Allows us to see the locations
• Treating diseases using monoclonal antibodies

  1. Scientists make antibodies specific to cancer cells

  2. Attach a radioactive substance or toxic drug to the antibody

  3. Inject the antibody into the blood, it attaches to the cancer cells

  4. Radioactive substance or toxic drug stops the cancer cells from growing and dividing

  5. Advantage is the antibody delivers the substance specifically to the cancer cells without harming other cells
• There is a problem in certain drug trials using monoclonal antibodies, they've been found to produce very harmful side effects
• At the moment there are only a few drugs in use based on monoclonal antibodies, but in the future that's likely to increase