Monoclonal (Case Study Sample)

INTRODUCTION. Monoclonal antibodies are mono-specific antibodies made through culturing of similar immune cell which are cloned of a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies bind to specific epitope hence have monovalent affinity.Almost any substance, its possible to produce monoclonal antibodies that binds specifically to that substance.These can therefore serve to detect and purify the substance. MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES PRODUCTION. Immunization of the mice is done to stimulate the antibody production. There after the B cells are extracted from the spleen of the mouse. The B cells are then fused with the myeloma cells to form hrbridoma cell. This fusion is made possible through the use of polyethylene glycol. Selection of the hybridoma cells proceeds after the fusion. Myeloma cells are hypoxanthine-guanine-phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) negative while the B- cells are positive. The culture is grown in a medium containing hypoxanthine, aminopterin, and thymidine (HAT). Myeloma cells that fused with other myeloma cells will die in hypoxanthine,aminopterin and thymine medium(HAT medium) since they are HGPRT negative while B cells that fuse with other B cells will also die in t...