APPLICATION OF MONOCLONAL

ANTIBODIES
TOGZHAN & AI DA
DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATIONS
• Pregnancy tests
• Diagnosing HIV
• Detecting the presence of pathogens
such as Streptococcus bacteria
• Distinguishing between Herpes I and
Herpes II
• Blood typing before transfusions and
tissue typing before transplants
• Detecting the presence of antibiotics in
milk
• Detecting cancer cells
THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS
PROS & CONS
+ -
• Hybridoma serves as an immortal source of monoclonal
antibody.
• Same quality of the antibody is maintained amongst the
different production batches.
• Highly reproducible and scalable, unlimited production
source.
• Speed and sensitivity and specificity of assays.
• Can produce antibodies when needed.
• No need to worry about maintaining the animals.
• Antigen or immunogen need not be pure.
• Selection helps to identify the right clones against the
specific antigen
• Time consuming project - anwhere between 6 months -9 months.
• Very expensive and needs considerable effort to produce them.
• Small peptide and fragment antigens may not be good antigens-
monoclonal antibody may not recognize the original antigen.
• Hybridoma culture may be subject to contamination.
• System is only well developed for mouse and rat and not for
other animals.
• More than 99% of the cells do not survive during the fusion
process – reducing the range of useful antibodies that can be
produced against an antigen
MCQ.
1. Monoclonal antibodies can be used to treat diseases. Which of the following statements describe a current clinical use
for monoclonal antibodies?
a) They can protect against a wide variety of viruses and bacteria.
b) They are derived from the plasma of individuals already immune to infectious pathogens.
c) They each have broad specificity for many antigenic determinants.
d) They can reduce inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

2. Which of the following is not a use for monoclonal 3. The major hazards of monoclonal antibodies are:
antibodies? a) difficult in purification
a) the identification of chromosome abnormality b) difficult
a) contamination with retroviral particles from mouse
in purification
b) blood and tissue typing myeloma
b) cells with retroviral particles from mouse
contamination
c) pregnancy test c) non specificity
myeloma cells
d) used to prevent organ rejection d) non
c) All of these
specificity
d) All of these
SQ.
1. Give 2 ways that monoclonal antibodies can be used in the diagnosis or treatment of cancer. [2]

Any 2 from:
• Locates cancer cells so they can be treated and removed.
• Can attach anticancer drugs to target and destroy cancer cells.
• Can bind to cancer cells and trigger natural immune response.
• Can block chemicals that cause the cancer to divide.

2. Monoclonal antibodies used as a treatment need to be given more than once. Repeated treatment can cause side
effects to the person or can become less effective.
Suggest why repeated treatment with monoclonal antibodies may have these effects. [1]

Any one of the following:

• Monoclonal antibodies are identified as foreign/non-self / act as an antigen; [1 mark]
• (Monoclonal antibodies) stimulate an immune response; [1 mark]
• (Antibodies destroyed so) not enough antibody (to be effective); [1 mark]

Statements suggesting that the body might "get used to" antibodies, or become "resistant" to them will not be
credited as these are not accurate descriptions of how the immune system functions.
3. Explain the advantages of the use of monoclonal antibodies, compared with conventional methods,
in the diagnosis of disease. [3]

Any 3 from:
N.B. diagnosis not treatment
• quick diagnosis;
• than having to culture pathogen;
• (quicker diagnosis) so quicker treatment;
• less labour intensive (than culturing) ;
• not all pathogens can be cultured;
• microscopic identification difficult;
• viruses difficult to identify;
• AV ; e.g. ref. specificity / ref. non-pathogenic diseases