monoclonal antibody

monoclonal antibody an antibody that is mass produced in the laboratory from a single clone and that recognizes only one antigen. Monoclonal antibodies are typically made by fusing a normally short-lived, antibody-producing B cell (see immunity ) to a fast-growing cell, such as a cancer cell (sometimes referred to as an "immortal" cell). The resulting hybrid cell, or hybridoma, multiplies rapidly, creating a clone that produces large quantities of the antibody.

Monoclonal antibodies engendered much excitement in the medical world and in the financial world in the 1980s, especially as potential cures for cancer. They have been used in laboratory research and in medical tests since the mid-1970s, but their effectiveness in disease treatment has been limited. By the mid-1990s, however, some of the technical problems had been overcome. Experimental cancer therapies have used drugs, radioactive materials, or immune killer cells attached to monoclonal antibodies that, when injected into patients, home in on antigens that grow only on the surface of cancer cells.

monoclonal antibody (mon-oh-kloh-năl) n. an antibody produced artificially from a cell clone and therefore consisting of a single type of immunoglobulin. Monoclonal antibodies are used in research, are valuable diagnostic tools, and have been developed as pharmaceutical agents for treating a variety of conditions, including some cancers.

monoclonal antibody A particular antibody produced by a cell that is one of many identical cells each of which is a clone of a single parent cell (i.e. each cell is monoclonal). The parent cell is formed by fusing a cell that produces the desired antibody (a lymphocyte) with a cell taken from a malignant lympoid tumour in a mouse, yielding a hybrid that multiplies rapidly.