Monoclonal antibodies

摘要

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are antibodies having a single specificity for a given antigenic site (epitope). The development of hybridoma technology and the relative ease by which MAbs can be prepared has revolutionized many aspects of serological applications in diagnosis and differentiation of disease producing agents. The property of monospecificity offers advantages in diagnostic applications over polyclonal sera in that tests can be defined exactly with regard to the antigen detected and the affinity of reaction between the given antigenic site and the monoclonal reagent. In addition, MAbs offer better possibilities for test standardization, because the same reagent can be used in different laboratories. Such an MAb can be supplied by a central laboratory or 'grown' from hybridoma cells, ensuring that the resultant product is identical from laboratory to laboratory and that the part of the test involving the MAb reaction is the same.