Uses

• 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

  2. Woman urinates on test strip and looks for reaction

  3. Test is cheap, easy to use, and highly accurate
• Using monoclonal antibodies to measure hormone levels

  1. Take blood sample

  2. Test for hormone levels using monoclonal antibodies
• Using monoclonal antibodies to detect pathogens


  Monoclonal antibodies are completely specific to what we're looking for
• Using monoclonal antibodies to locate/identify molecules in cells


  1. Attach monoclonal antibodies to fluorescent dyes

  2. Antibodies stick to specific molecules within the cell

  3. Allows us to see the locations
• Using monoclonal antibodies to treat diseases (e.g. cancer)

  1. Make antibodies specific to cancer cells

  2. Attach radioactive substance or toxic drug to the antibody

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

  4. Radioactive substance or toxic drug stops cancer cells from growing and dividing
• Monoclonal antibody drug trials have found harmful side effects, so only a few drugs in use currently
• Monoclonal antibodies are likely to be used more in the future for treating diseases