Monoclonal antibodies basics

Question 1

monoclonal antibodies can be used to

Answer 1

• track disease
• used to find cancer cells
• used to switch on the immune system

Question 2

most antigens carry many

Answer 2

epitopes

Question 3

epitopes

Answer 3

binding sites for paratope (antigen binding site)

Question 4

animals injected with a single antigen

Answer 4

will produce a complex mixture of antibodies for the many different epitopes

Question 5

each antibody will be produced by

Answer 5

a different clone of B cell

Question 6

a response where many different antibodies are produced for a single antigen

Answer 6

polyclonal antibody response

Question 7

polyclonal antibody response will not

Answer 7

discriminate between different antigens

Question 8

to discriminate between different antigens

Answer 8

antibodies need to be identified that bind to epitopes specific to individual anitgens

Question 9

antigens will have epitopes that are

Answer 9

specific to that antigen and are not found on onthers

Question 10

specific epitopes of antigens produce a

Answer 10

monoclonal antibody response

Question 11

monoclonal antibodies do not

Answer 11

cross react with conserved epitopes

Question 12

need to find B cells which

Answer 12

produce antibodies that are specific to antigens

Question 13

two ways of creating monoclonal antibodies

Answer 13

• hybridisation

- phage display

Question 14

uses of monoclonal antibodies

Answer 14

widespread:

• diagnostic pathology
• in vitro diagnostics
• affinity purification and characterisation of antigens

Question 15

diagnostic pathology

Answer 15

cytology and histology

- can identify cancerous cells

Question 16

in vitro diagnostics based on

Answer 16

ELISA, lateral-flow assay and biomarkers of disease

Question 17

up until recently moms mAbs have had

Answer 17

limited use in vivo

not until phage display and hybridomal technology