Monoclonal Antibodies Flashcards
what are antibodies produced by
- b-lymphocytes
- a type of white blood cell
how are monoclonal antibodies produced and what does it mean
- from lots of clones of a single b-lymphocyte
- means that all the antibodies are identical and will only target one specific protein antigen
what is the main difference between cancer cells and b-lymphocytes and what can you do with these two
- lymphocytes produce antibodies but dont divide easily
- where-as cancer cells dont produce antibodies but they divide a lot so they can be grown easily
- meaning you can fuse a lymphocyte with a tumour cell, called the myeloma cell
- and produce a cell called a hybridoma
what can be done to hybriomas
- they can be cloned to get lots of identical cells
- these can divide really quickly to provide the same antibodies (monoclonal antibodies)
- they can then be collected and purified
why are monoclonal antibodies really useful
- because you can make them bind to anything you want
- because they only bind to the target molecule
- it means you can use them to target a specific cell or chemical in the body
how are hybridomas created using mice
- mouse is injected with chosen antigen
- there are fast dividing tumour cells in the lab
- b-lymphocytes are taken from the mouse
- b-lymphocyte is fused with myeloma (tumour cell)
- makes a hydridoma
- divides quickly to produce lots of clones which produce monoclonal antibodies
what do cancer cells have in contrast to normal cells
- proteins on their cell membrane that arent found
on normal cells - these are tumour markers
what is done to help diagnose and treat cancer (simple)
scientists can make monoclonal antibodies that can bind to the tumour markers
how are monoclonal antibodies used to diagnose cancer
- antibodies are labelled with a radioactive element
- labelled antibodies are given to a patient through a drip
- they go into the blood and are carried around the body
- when antibodies come into contact with cancer cells they bind unto the tumour markers
- picture of the patients body is taken with a special camera that detects radioactivity
- anywhere there are cancer cells will show up as a bright spot
how do monoclonal antibodies being used to detect cancer cells help doctors
they can see exactly where the cancer cells are, the size of it and find out if its spreading
how are monoclonal antibodies used to target drugs to cancer cells
- anti cancer drug is attached to monoclonal antibodies
- antibodies given to patient through a drip
- antibodies specifically target cancer cells as they only bind to the tumour markers
what is the effect of monoclonal antibodies being used to deliver target drugs to cancer cells
- the drugs can kill the cancer cell
- but not the normal cells near the tumour
why are the side effects of an antibody based drug lower than radiotherapy
- because radiotherapy can kill the normal body cells while trying to kill the cancer cells
- where-as antibody based drugs specifically target the cancer cells due to only binding to the tumour markers
