Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (1+1)

3.2.1. Introduction

Our knowledge of the immune system of fish and fish diseases is extremely limited when compared to our knowledge of large animals. At present, fish farming (aquaculture) is becoming an increasingly important food production industry, and may play a significant role as a food source in the future. For this reason, application of the latest biotechnological advances, including MAbs, to the aquaculture industry, is extremely important. MAbs are being adopted for purposes of immunoassay and immunotherapy.

Hybridoma technology is a technology of forming hybrid cell lines (called hybridomas ) by fusing a specific antibody -producing B cell with a myeloma (B cell cancer) cell that is selected for its ability to grow in tissue culture . The antibodies produced by the hybridoma are all of a single specificity and are therefore monoclonal antibodies (in contrast to polyclonal antibodies).

Hybridoma technology for the production of monoclonal antibodies (MABs) has contributed significantly to aquaculture. Monoclonal antibodies are being employed in disease, pathogen classification, epidemiological analysis and development of vaccines.

The idea of a " magic bullet " was first proposed by Paul Ehrlich who at the beginning of the 20th century postulated that if a compound could be made that selectively targeted a disease-causing organism, then a toxin for that organism could be delivered along with the agent of selectivity. In the 1970s the B-cell cancer multiple myeloma was known, and it was understood that these cancerous B-cells all produce a single type of antibody. This was used to study the structure of antibodies, but it was not yet possible to produce identical antibodies specific to a given antigen .

Production of monoclonal antibodies involving human–mouse hybrid cells was described by Jerrold Schwaber in 1973. The invention was conceived by Prof. Pieczenik, with Prof. John Sedat, as a witness and reduced to practice by Cotton and Milstein, and then by Kohler and Milstein.

Georges Köhler , César Milstein , and Niels Kaj Jerne in 1975; who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 for the discovery. The key idea was to use a line of myeloma cells that had lost their ability to secrete antibodies, come up with a technique to fuse these cells with healthy antibody-producing B-cells, and be able to select for the successfully fused cells.