B3: MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

Question 1

What are monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 1

antibodies produced from a single clone of cells

Question 2

How are monoclonal antibodies produced in a lab?

Answer 2

-inject a mouse with specific antigen to stimulate mouse B-lymphocytes to make a particular antibody
-B-lymphocytes are removed/isolated from the mouse
-B-lymphocytes are combined with a fast dividing tumor cell to make a cell called a hybridoma cell
-the hybridoma cell can divide rapidly to produce lots of clones which all produce the same antibody
-large amount of the antibody can collected and purified

Question 3

How are monoclonal antibodies used in pregnancy tests?

Answer 3

monoclonal antibodies designed to bind with a hormone called HCG (which is found only in the urine of pregnant women)
-the bit of the stick the woman urinates on has antibodies with blue dye attached
-the test strip has more antibodies to the hormone stuck onto it
if you’re pregnant and you wee on the stick:
-the hormone binds to the antibodies on the blue dye
-the the urine moves up the stick carrying the hormone and the dye
-the dye and hormone bind to the antibodies on the test strip
-the blue dye gets stuck on the test strip turning it blue
if you’re not pregnant:
-the urine still moves up the stick, carrying the blue dye
-but there’s nothing to stick the dye onto the test strip so it doesn’t turn blue

Question 4

How are monoclonal antibodies used?

Answer 4

-diagnosis (eg: pregnancy tests)
-detection (eg: to detect drugs/chemicals in the blood)
-research (eg: to locate/identify specific molecules in a cell/tissue)
-treatment (eg: treating cancer - binding a radioactive substance to a monoclonal antibody to stop cells growing and dividing)

Question 5

What are the pros of using monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 5

-can be used to treat cancer
-normal body cells not impacted
-help immune cells kill cancer cells
less side effects compared with chemotherapy and radiotherapy

Question 6

What are the cons of using monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 6

-ethics/animal cruelty
-foreign proteins to humans
-more side effects than expected
-not widely used/available for treatment