monoclonal antibodies

• what are lymphocytes?


  antibodies produced by WBC
• role of lymphocytes


  produces antibodies against anything that the body detects as foreign like antigens
• what are antibodies used for?

  • pregnancy tests
  • cancer treatments
• steps of MABS

  1. An antigen is injected into a mouse.
  2. The mouse produces lymphocytes, which produce antibodies specific to the antigen that was injected.
  3. Spleen cells, which produce the lymphocytes, are removed from the mouse.
  4. The spleen cells are fused with human cancerous white blood cells called myeloma cells (tumor cells) to form hybridoma cells which divide indefinitely.
  5. These hybridoma cells divide and produce millions of monoclonal antibodies specific to the original antigen.
• how are MAB's used in pregnancy tests?


  detects a specific hormone produced by the placenta of developing fetus

  • cheap and easy to use
• are MAB specific or not specific?

  specific to one binding site on one antigen
• WHAT IS A BENEFIT OF MAB'S


  THEY CAN TARGET SPECIFIC CHEMICALS OR CELLS IN THE BODIES
• how are monoclonal antibodies used in lab testing

  1. to measure the levels of hormones in the blood
  2. detect pathogens in the blood like viruses

  advantage for these cases are they are COMPLETELY SPECIFIC
• how are mab's used for location


  used to locate or identify specific molecules in a cell or tissue
• how do mab's work with fluorescent dyes?


  the antibodies stick to specific antigens within the cell and clump together and allows us to see their location whilst they glow under uv light
• how are mab's used to treating diseases in cancer

  1. cancerous cells undergo uncontrolled mitosis and they spread around the body
  2. antibodies can be made specific to cancer cells
  3. attach a radioactive substance or toxic drug to the antibody
  4. when the antibody is injected into the blood it attaches to the cancer cells
  5. then the radioactive substance or toxic drug stops the cancer cells from growing and dividing
  6. the antibody delivers the substance specifically to the cancer cells without harming other cells
• what are some problems when using mAB'S

  • produce harmful side-effects
• what hormone do pregnant women produce?

  HCG
• lympocytes produce antibodies that bind to specific antigens called mabs
• how does the pregnancy test work?

  1. as the urine passes through the reaction zone the HCG hormone binds to the specific HCG antibody in the results zone
  2. other antibodies that do not attach the HCG goes to the control zone
  3. blue dye appears in both zones to show a positive result