The monoclonal antibody technology, also known as the hybridoma technology, is primarily used for the large-scale production of monoclonal antibodies. The technology starts by immunizing animals with a target antigen to induce an immune response. Next, the splenocytes of the immunized animals are extracted. Afterward, the B cells that produce specific antibodies binding to the target antigen are isolated before they are fused with particular immortal cancer cells. The resulting fused cells, also called hybridoma cells, are cultured in media, thereby generating monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize the target antigen. As the humanized monoclonal antibody plays an increasingly important role in the field of cancer therapy, this technology has become of great significance for us to produce monoclonal antibodies in large quantities.

In daily life, everybody gets ill sometime. When bacteria, viruses and other infectious agents attempt to enter a human body, its immune system recognizes and destroys them by secreting antibodies. Typically, antibodies enjoy two striking advantages. First, they are rather specific, with each antibody binding to and attacking one particular antigen. Second, some of the antibodies activated by the occurrence of a disease continue to confer resistance against that disease; cases in point are chickenpox and measles, both of which belong to childhood diseases. The second strength of antibodies finds its use in developing vaccines. A vaccine is a preparation of killed or attenuated bacteria or viruses that, when entering the body, induce the production of antibodies against the particular antigen it contains. On the other hand, the first merit of antibodies, that is, specificity, makes it possible for the immune system to fight against and diagnose diseases, as well as detect the presence of drugs, viruses and bacteria, and other abnormal substances in the blood. The two advantages together manifest the great value of the production of monoclonal antibodies.

The conventional method for producing monoclonal antibodies was to inject a laboratory animal with an antigen, stimulating the immune system to form specific antibodies, which would be collected later from the blood serum. This method comes with two weaknesses: the serum with the antibody contains only a fraction of usable antibodies, accompanied with undesirable substances at the same time. In contrary, the monoclonal antibody technology allows the mass production of pure antibodies. At present, the application of the technology has even extended to the guinea pig hybridoma production. The species serves as an alternative source of some target-specific monoclonal antibodies.

Currently, monoclonal antibodies are applied to more and more areas, including the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Moreover, they have become important tools in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine. Thus, the monoclonal antibody technology plays an increasingly significant role in the large-scale production of monoclonal antibodies. With the development of the medical study, the monoclonal antibody technology will be further optimized to contribute to the monoclonal antibody production.

About Creative Biolabs

With extensive experience in the antibody production and engineering field, Creative Biolabs provides services covering murine monoclonal antibody production by hybridoma technology, and human, monkey, rabbit, chicken, dog, llama and camel monoclonal antibody production by antibody library technologies. The company also specializes in conducting in-depth antibody humanization and affinity maturation by utilizing phage display and DNA mutagenesis approaches.