Antibodies

• What is the structure of antibodies?

  • has four polypeptide chains
  • complementary
  • light - short polypeptide chain
  • heavy - long polypeptide chain
  • induced fit
• What is agglutination?


  clump bacteria cells together to be located by phagocytes
• What is neutralisation?

  • prevents bacteria from binding to host cells
  • acts as marker for phagocytes
• What are monoclonal antibodies and what are their uses?

  • antibodies produced by clones of single plasma cells
  • all identical
  • used for treatment of cancer, drug screening, pregnancy kits
• How are monoclonal antibodies made?

  • mice are stimulated to make specific B lymphocytes
  • tumour cells are able to divide
  • hybridoma formed from a combination of mouse lymphocytes and tumour cells
  • hybridoma cells divide to make large quantity of identical cells that produce identical antibodies
  • monoclonal antibodies produced