monoclonal antibodies

• Monoclonal antibodies


  Antibodies from a single clone of cells
• Making monoclonal antibodies


  1. Take a cell, clone it a whole bunch of times

  2. Make all the clones produce antibodies

  3. Isolate the antibodies
• Antibodies


  Small proteins produced by white blood cells (B lymphocytes) to help fight disease
• Antigens


  Foreign material that antibodies can bind to, e.g. molecules in a bacteria's cell wall
• How antibodies work


  1. B cells detect antigens

  2. Produce lots of antibodies

  3. Antibodies bind to matching antigens
• Making monoclonal antibodies in a lab

  1. Combine B lymphocytes with fast-dividing tumor cells to form hybridomas

  2. Hybridomas divide rapidly and produce identical antibodies

  3. Collect and purify the antibodies
• Hybridomas


  • Produce lots of antibodies like B lymphocytes, but divide rapidly like tumor cells
• Obtaining the right B lymphocytes


  1. Inject an animal (e.g. mouse) with the target antigen

  2. Animal's immune system generates B lymphocytes specific to that antigen

  3. Isolate those B lymphocytes
• Monoclonal antibodies


  • Bind to one specific thing
  • Can be made to bind to any desired protein, cell, pathogen or chemical
• Uses of monoclonal antibodies


  • Attach drugs, fluorescent proteins or radioactive material to target and destroy cancer cells
• white blood cells are produced by the bone marrow
• the immune system is made up of white blood cells, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus gland
• red blood cells are produced by the red bone marrow
• lymphocytes are white blood cells that produce antibodies