Monoclonal Antibodies

Question 1

what are antibodies produced by

Answer 1

• b-lymphocytes

- a type of white blood cell

Question 2

how are monoclonal antibodies produced and what does it mean

Answer 2

• from lots of clones of a single b-lymphocyte

- means that all the antibodies are identical and will only target one specific protein antigen

Question 3

what is the main difference between cancer cells and b-lymphocytes and what can you do with these two

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

what can be done to hybriomas

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

why are monoclonal antibodies really useful

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

how are hybridomas created using mice

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

what do cancer cells have in contrast to normal cells

Answer 7

• proteins on their cell membrane that arent found
  on normal cells
• these are tumour markers

Question 8

what is done to help diagnose and treat cancer (simple)

Answer 8

scientists can make monoclonal antibodies that can bind to the tumour markers

Question 9

how are monoclonal antibodies used to diagnose cancer

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

how do monoclonal antibodies being used to detect cancer cells help doctors

Answer 10

they can see exactly where the cancer cells are, the size of it and find out if its spreading

Question 11

how are monoclonal antibodies used to target drugs to cancer cells

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

what is the effect of monoclonal antibodies being used to deliver target drugs to cancer cells

Answer 12

• the drugs can kill the cancer cell

- but not the normal cells near the tumour

Question 13

why are the side effects of an antibody based drug lower than radiotherapy

Answer 13

• 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