Welcome...
Hello and welcome to another #steemitschool blog. Today we are going to learn about Monoclonal antibodies. Let's begin...
What are they?
Monoclonal Antibodies are exactly the same as each other. Lots of clones of a single white blood cell produces them. Therefore, only one particular protein antigen is targeted. This is what sets them apart from normal antibodies which are produced by B-Lymphocytes.
What is a B-lymphocyte?
A B-lymphocyte is a sort of white blood cell that does not divide very easily. A hybridoma cell can potentially be made by fusing a tumour cell with a mouse B-lymphocyte.
Hybridoma cells
These type of cells can undergo cloning to make many replicated (identical) cells and antibodies, which can be collected and purified.
Why are Monoclonal Antibodies useful?
Monoclonal antibodies can be attached to any kind of cell you wish. This means that they can be used to connect to a specifically targeted cell/chemical within the body.
Here is a video to summarise everything...
Thanks for reading.
All of the information displayed within this blog has been sourced from an AQA Biology text book.
Hope you all are having a great week,
Jonathan.