5.6 - Monoclonal Antibodies
- 1What monoclonal antibodies are
- 2The uses of monoclonal antibodies in medicine
- 3The use of antibodies in the ELISA test
Monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies produced from a single clone of plasma cells:
- 'Mono' means single.
- 'Clonal' means clone.
Each of these antibodies are identical to one another and so will bind to a specific molecule.
Monoclonal antibodies have many uses:
- Diagnosis of disease - Monoclonal antibodies bind to specific cell types to identify infected cells.
- Treatment of disease - Monoclonal antibodies bind to specific cells, bringing therapeutic drugs with them.
- Pregnancy testing - Monoclonal antibodies bind to a pregnancy hormone in home pregnancy testing kits.
- Detecting certain cancers - For example, monoclonal antibodies can bind to prostate specific antigens (PSA) to identify prostate cancer in men.
ELISA test
The Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbant Assay (ELISA) test uses monoclonal antibodies to to detect both the presence and quantity of protein in a sample. It is often used to find out whether a patient has antigens for a pathogen, and hence has the disease.
There are two types of ELISA test:
- The direct test - This uses only one antibody.
- The indirect test - This uses two antibodies.
The following steps outline how the indirect ELISA test is carried out:
Add the sample (containing the target protein) to a well plate where the target protein can attach to the well.
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