Topic 2- monoclonal antibodies

Question 1

What are monoclonal antibodies used for diagnostically?

Answer 1

-Pregnancy tests
-Diagnosing HIV
-Detecting the presence of pathogens such as Streptococcus bacteria
-Distinguishing between Herpes I and Herpes II
-Blood typing before transfusions and tissue typing before transplants
-Detecting the presence of antibiotics in milk
-Detecting cancer cells

Question 2

Monoclonal antibodies can also be used to locate the position of 1._____ _____ for patients thought to have deep vein thrombosis

Answer 2

1. blood clots

Question 3

Give some examples of therapeutic uses of monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 3

-Treatment for the rabies virus
-The prevention of transplanted organ rejection
-Autoimmune therapies for allergic asthma and rheumatoid arthritis
-Treatment for diseases caused by the overproduction or inappropriate production of B-cells
-Prevention of blood clotting following angioplasty procedures
-Targeted treatment of breast cancer
-Treatment of melanoma (a type of skin cancer); the antibody (ipilimumab) binds to a protein produced by T-cells (whose role is to reduce the immune response) which results in the immune system remaining active against the cancer cells

Question 4

Using monoclonal antibodies as a treatment requires multiple administrations and this can cause problems
Initially the monoclonal antibodies were produced by mice, rabbits or other laboratory animals (as these were easier to produce), however this triggered an immune response when they were introduced to humans - What have scientists done to counteract this problem

Answer 4

-Genetically modifying the antibody polypeptide chains so that the amino acid sequences are now human, not mouse or rabbit sequences
-Altering the type and position of the sugar groups (antibodies are glycoproteins) attached to the heavy polypeptide chains to reflect those found on human antibodies