What are monoclonal antibodies?

monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that are identical because they are produced by specialized cells that have been cloned. There are a number of uses for monoclonal antibodies, from drug testing to cancer treatment and are produced in laboratories around the world. Like many medical discoveries, monoclonal antibodies are also accompanied by some controversy because they are produced in mice and there is no logistics way to make them from human cells.

Antibodies are developed by the body when it is exposed to foreign substances. In the body they persist and grant immune resistance long after the exposure and are also highly sophisticated, designed to distinguish between very similar foreign substances. The exact targeting of antibodies became the topic of interest in the 20th century and in the 70s.

In order to create these antibodies, the mouse is exposed to AntigeWell and cells are gathering from the spleen. These cells are cultivated by myeloma cells, plasma cell cancer to form a hybridom that is infinitely replicated. Replications can be tested to find cells that produce the desired antibody or antibodies, and these cells can be cloned and used to develop a large storage of monoclonal antibodies. The resulting antibodies are pure, without any other substances that make them better than the anti -ager, and will continue to reproduce indefinitely, due to the immortal nature of tumor cells used to produce hybridom.

Once produced, monoclonal antibodies can be used in screening tests. For example, testing of a doctor for drugs or the presence of a disease could expose a sample of the patient's blood to monoclonal antibodies that will respond with the antigenEmpokud concerned, alerts the doctor to the presence of everything he is testing. Monoclonal antibodies can also be modified to be usedITY for cleaning, linking to specific antigen and allowing all other substances in the sample to be paid off.

For cancer treatment, monoclonal antibodies have enormous potential because they can be mixed with radioactive substances or other compounds and introduced in the body, focusing on cancer cells and cancer cells themselves. Products used in medical treatment have all the names that end in -mab, for “monoclonal antibody.

Scientists are reluctant to develop these special antibodies with human cells because they believe that it is not ethical to expose people to antigens. Some scientists have suggested that advances in biological conditions will allow the production of monoclonal antibodies in vitro, allowing scientists to avoid the use of live animals or humans.