B6 Flashcards
(23 cards)
How are monoclonal antibodies formed?
- An antigen is injected into a mouse
- The mouse naturally produces lymphocytes, which produce antibodies specific to the antigen
- Spleen cells which produce the lymphocytes are removed during a small operation
- The spleen cells are fused with tumour cells to form hybridoma cells which divide indefinitely
- These hybridoma cells divide and produce millions of monoclonal antibodies specific to the original antigen
How could identifying disease be easier using monoclonal antibodies? (UV)
Some monoclonal antibodies have been attached to dyes that will glow fluorescent under UV light. This can make disease identification much easier.
Monoclonal antibodies have been designed to treat cancer by:
- carrying drugs that have been attached to them, to the tumour
- encouraging your immune system to attack the cancer cells directly
give some purposes of monoclonal antibodies
- testing for pregnancy by detecting HCG hormones in urine
- testing for diseases such herpes and chlamydia, and HIV
- to treat conditions like cancer by carrying drugs directly to the tumour cells, and helping the
immune system attack them - monoclonal antibodies can be produced quickly despite the fact that it can be time consuming when they are made for the first time
How could monoclonal antibodies treat cancer?
- can be bound to a radioactive substance, toxic drug or chemical which stops cancer cells growing and dividing
What does a pregnancy test kit consist of?
A stick containing monoclonal antibodies specific to hCG:
- mAbs attached to a blue bead (free to move)
-mAbs fixed to the test stick
Describe what happens to the test if a woman is pregnant
- hCG in urine binds to mAbs attached to a blue bead
- mAbs with hCG diffuse up the stick
- mAbs fixed to the stick bind to hCG
- blue line forms
Describe what happens to the test if a women is not pregnant
- no blue line formed as there is no hCG in urine for mAbs to bind to
What advantages are there of using monoclonal antibodies?
- quick results
- accurate
- specific to one particular antigen
where does aspirin originate from?
willow
where does digitalis originate from?
foxglove
What’s vaccination
Introducing small quantities of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen into the body
How do white blood cells work towards the vaccine?
Specific antigens on the surface of the pathogen stimulate the white blood cells to produce specific and complementary antibodies to destroy the pathogen
Memory white blood cells stay in the blood and make the specific antibody very quickly if the pathogen is reintroduced to the body
Herd immunity
When a large enough proportion of the population is immune to the pathogen
Painkillers
Treat symptoms, relieve pain (DO NOT KILL PATHOGENS)
Antibiotics
Kill bacteria, damage bacterial cells without harming your own cells
Do antibiotics kill viruses?
No
Double blind trial
Some patients given real drug, some given placebo. Nobody knows who has which drug
What are drugs tested for?
Toxicity, efficacy, dosage
Preclinical testing
Carried out in labs using cells, tissues and then live animalsb
Clinical trials
Drugs are tested on healthy volunteers, then patients
Why are peer reviews necessary?
Prevent false claims
How are drugs given to patients in clinical trials
- low doses given to healthy volunteers to check side effects
- small number of patients trialled to see if drug treats disease
- larger group then trialled to find optimum dosage
