VMC 221: Veterinary Immunology and Serology (1+1)

MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

• In general antibodies are produced by sensitized plasma cell and its clone in response to an antigen or antigenic determinants.
• Usually when infection takes place, polyclonal antibodies are produced as natural antigens have multiple epitopes or antigenic determinants.
• When a clone of plasma cells produce antibody against a single antigenic determinant, this antibody is known as monoclonal antibody.
• Monoclonal antibodies can be continuously produced by fusing antibody producing plasma cells to immortal myeloma cells and making hybrid cells, which have the capacity to grow for a prolonged time and this technology is known as Hybridoma technology.
• Hybridomas are somatic cell hybrids produced by fusing antibody forming spleen cells with myeloma cells.
• These hybrid cells retain the capacity of antibody producing spleen cells and indefinite multiplication of myeloma cells.
• This technology was first described by Kohler and Milstein (1975).