Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
September 2002
www.curriculumpress.co.uk
Number 112
Monoclonal Antibodies
This Factsheet describes:
the production of monoclonal antibodies.
the uses of monoclonal antibodies in pregnancy testing and the targeting of drugs to specific substances or cells.
Production of monoclonal antibodies
Until 1975 B-lymphocytes would only transform into plasma cells and manufacture antibodies when inside the body. Plasma cells are unable to divide
and so cannot be cultured outside the body. In 1975 Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein fused mouse spleen lymphocytes (capable of making antibodies)
with myeloma cells (capable of dividing) to form a hybridoma. The hybridoma cells possessed both useful characteristics - they could make antibodies
and they could divide.
lymphocytes activated by
specific antigen
other lymphocytes
culture vessel
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Bio Factsheet
Monoclonal antibodies
www.curriculumpress.co.uk
Control window
Test window
to locate the positions of cancerous cells and tumours within the body.
urine
The tip of the test strip is dipped into the urine sample from the woman
with the suspected pregnancy. hCG molecules will combine with the antihCG antibodies in the tip of the strip and the antigen-antibody complexes
formed move up the strip. When they reach the test window they combine
with the immobilised anti-anti-hCG antibodies and the accumulated blue
latex gives the appearance of a blue line. Any anti-hCG antibodies that are
not carrying hCG move higher up the strip and combine with the anti-antihCG antibodies in the control window forming a blue line. Thus:
Make sure that you are clear about the three types of monoclonal
antibodies used in the pregnancy test.
Pregnancy testing
During the early weeks of pregnancy a hormone called human chorionic
gonadotrophin (hCG) is released from the placenta and accumulates in the
mothers blood stream and is excreted in the urine. Detection of this hormone
in the urine is the basis of some pregnancy home testing kits. Three types
of monoclonal antibody are used in the test.
Because hCG is a glycoprotein, monoclonal antibodies can be prepared
against it (anti-hCG antibodies). Monoclonal antibodies (anti-anti-hCG
antibodies) can also be prepared against the anti-hCG antibodies with
attached hCG and against anti-hCG antibodies without attached hCG.
The anti-hCG antibodies are tagged with a blue latex so that their position
can be clearly seen.
Acknowledgements:
This Factsheet was researched and written by Martin Griffin.
Curriculum Press, Unit 305B, The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham. B18 6NF
Bio Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students,
provided that their school is a registered subscriber. No part of these Factsheets
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other
form or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISSN 1351-5136
Bio Factsheet
Monoclonal antibodies
www.curriculumpress.co.uk
Practice Questions
1. (a) What is meant by the term monoclonal antibody?
3
(b) In human medicine why are genetically engineered monoclonal
antibodies preferred for use rather than mouse-origin monoclonal
antibodies?
4
(c) Lymphocytes and plasma cells cannot be used directly for the
commercial production of monoclonal antibodies. Explain why.3
Total 10
Answers
1. (a) a highly specific, pure antibody;
produced in large quantities by a specific clone of cells;
called a hybridoma;
3
(b) antibodies are protein and so could induce an immune response;
human monoclonal antibodies are not foreign to the body and so
are unlikely to cause an immune response;
mouse monoclonal antibodies are foreign to the body and so cause
an immune response;
this is only likely to be serious if the mouse antibodies are used
more than once so that the human has become sensitized to them;
4
(c) lymphocytes/plasma cells can only undergo a specified number of
mitoses in their life cycle;
they have already divided and cloned before extraction from the
mouse:
thus they are unlikely to divide again/live for long, and so are
unsuitable for long-term culture;
3
Total 10
2. antigen; plasma cells/B-lymphocytes; myeloma cells; hybridomas;
clone; cancer/HIV/AIDS/Chlamydia; pregnancy;
Total 7
Lymphocytes: These are formed from stem cells in the bone marrow.
The B-lymphocytes make antibodies (humoral response) and are found
in all lymphoid organs except the thymus. The T-lymphocytes develop
in the thymus, and give cellular immunity (by destroying foreign cells)
and also regulate antibody secretion by the B-Lymphocytes.
The clonal selection theory: At birth the lymphoid system contains
as many as one hundred million different clones of lymphocytes, each
one committed by the shape of its antigen receptors to recognise just
one antigen grouping. Each clone consists of less than a hundred cells
but there are more than enough clones to recognise all the different
antigen groupings that might be encountered throughout life. (A clone is
a population of genetically identical cells formed by mitosis). Thus, if
the lymphocytes encounter a particular antigen only a few cells (one
clone) will recognise it and respond.
Monoclonal antibody: This is a highly specific, pure antibody,
produced in large quantities by a specific clone of cells called a hybridoma.
Hybridoma: A clone of cells produced by fusing specific B-lymphocytes
with myeloma (cancer) cells.