Monoclonal Antibodies

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  • Created by: alice
  • Created on: 22-05-10 11:13

Monoclonal Antibodies and their uses in Science

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Different-b-cells-with-antigen-receptors-and-antigen-molecules.svg/800px-Different-b-cells-with-antigen-receptors-and-antigen-molecules.svg.png)

  • Plasma Cells are all identical copies of a B-cells
  • these antibodies will have a specific complementary shape to bind to a particular antigen
  • This is useful to science, because it means you can get monoclonal antibodies to bind to a specific thing - targeting the cells that you are interested in --

Examples of this in Science:

  • Targeting Cancer Cells - these are tumours and they have antigens on their surface called 'Tumour Markers'
  • Monoclonal antibodies can be produced which bind to tumour markers and you can attach anti-cancer drugs to these antibodies(http://www.medgadget.com/archives/img/aaa823424adff.jpg)
  • So when they bind together

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