Monoclonal Antibody

Monoclonal antibody

Unlike polyclonal antibody, monoclonal antibody recognize specific epitope on antigen surface. Traditional monoclonal antibodies are produced in mice or rats using hybridoma technology.

Advantages of Monoclonal Antibodies

  1. Homogeneity: Monoclonal antibody represents a single antibody molecule that binds to antigens with the same affinity and promote the same effector functions.

  2. Specificity: The product of a single hybridoma reacts with the same epitope on antigens.

  3. Immunizing Antigen: Need not be pure or characterized and is ultimately not needed to produce large quantities of antibody.

  4. Selection: It is possible to select for specific epitope specificities and generate antibodies against a wider range of antigenic determinants.

  5. Antibody Production: Unlimited quantities of a single well-defined monospecific reagent.

Disadvantages of Monoclonal Antibodies

  1. Affinity: Average affinity of monoclonal antibodies are generally lower than polyclonal antibodies.

  2. Effector Functions: Because antibody is monoclonal, it may not produce the desired biologic response.

  3. Specificity: Monoclonals against conformational epitopes on native proteins may lose reactivity with antigens that have been minimally perturbed.

  4. Crossreactions: Antibodies sometimes display unexpected crossreactions with unrelated antigens.

  5. Time and effort commitment: VERY LARGE