monoclonal antibodies

Question 1

what are antibodies produced by

Answer 1

white blood cells called lymphocytes

Question 2

what do lymphocytes do

Answer 2

produce antibodies against anything that the body detects as foreign (antigens)

Question 3

where are monoclonal antibodies used (e.g)

Answer 3

pregnancy testing kits

cancer treatments

Question 4

how are antibodies produced and the problem and how to fix it

(how to make monoclonal antibodies)

Answer 4

-inject a mouse with an antigen, the lymphocytes will produce antibodies agains the antigen
-collect lymphocytes from the mouse

problem;
-lymphocytes like this will not divide by mitosis

next:
-fuse the lymphocytes with a tumour cell
-tumour cells are very good at dividing by mitosis
-cell produced is called hybridoma
-hybridoma cells can produce antibodies and divide by mitosis

-select a single hybridoma cell
producing the antibody that we want
-allow cell to divide by mitosis to form a clone of identical hybriodma cells
-these are called monoclonal antibodies
-large amount of the monoclonal antibodies can be collected and purified

Question 5

uses of monoclonal antibodies

Answer 5

pregnancy testing

measure levels of hormones in blood

locate or identify specific molecules in a cell or tissue

treating diseases