Monoclonal antibodies

Question 1

what are antibodies produced by

Answer 1

white blood cells called lymphocytes

Question 2

what are lymphocytes

Answer 2

the white blood cells that produce antibodies

Question 3

what do lymphocytes do

Answer 3

they produce antibodies against anything that the body detects as foreign (antigens)

Question 4

what are the foreign objects detected by antibodies called?

Answer 4

antigens

Question 5

what can scientists do to produce antibodies

this is useful, why can it be useful

Answer 5

trigger lymphocytes

antibodies are used in pregnancy testing kits and in certain cancer treatments

Question 6

what happens when injecting a mouse with an antigen?

Answer 6

lymphocytes will produce antibodies against the antigen

we can then collect the lymphocytes from the mouse

Question 7

explain fully how we can produce monoclonal antibodies by injecting a lab rat by an antigen

Answer 7

lymphocytes will produce antibodies against the antigen
we can then collect the lymphocytes from the mouse
the lymphocytes will not divide by mitosis
in the next stage we fuse(join) our lymphocytes with a tumour cell which is very good at dividing by mitosis
the cell produced is called a hybridoma
we then select a single hybridoma cell producing the antibody that we want
we now allow this hybridoma cell to divide by mitosis to form a clone of identical hybridoma cell
the antibodies produced from this clone of hybridoma cells are all identical
these are called monoclonal antibodies
a large amount of our monoclonal antibody can them be collected and purified

Question 8

why do we join the lymphocyte that’s unable to divide by mitosis with a tumour cell?

Answer 8

tumour cells are very good at dividing by mitosis

Question 9

what is the cell produced by joining together a lymphocyte unable to divide by mitosis with a tumour cell called?

Answer 9

a hybridoma cell

Question 10

what can hybridoma cells do?

Answer 10

produce antibodies and divide by mitosis

Question 11

what are monoclonal antibodies

Answer 11

antibodies that all come from a single hybridoma clone that has divided by mitosis to form monoclonal antibodies

Question 12

key facts of monoclonal antibodies

Answer 12

monoclonal antibodies are produced from a single clone of hybridoma cells

Question 13

what may monoclonal antibodies being produced from a single clone of hybridoma cells mean
what is the benefit of this?

Answer 13

that monoclonal antibodies are specific to one binding site on one protein antigen
the monoclonal antibodies can target a specific chemical or specific cells in the body. this means that monoclonal antibodies have a large number of uses