Monospecific antibody

Monospecific antibodies are antibodies that all have affinity for the same antigen. Monoclonal antibodies are monospecific, but monospecific antibodies may also be produced by other means than producing them from a common germ cell.

Production

Hybridoma cell

Main article: Monoclonal antibodies#Production

Monoclonal antibodies are typically made by fusing the spleen cells from a mouse that has been immunized with the desired antigen with myeloma cells. However, recent advances have allowed the use of rabbit B-cells.

PrEST

Another way of producing monospecific antibodies are by PrESTs. A PrEST (protein epitope signature tag) is a type of recombinantly produced human protein fragment. They are inserted into an animal, e.g. rabbit, which produces antibodies against the fragment. These antibodies are monospecific against the human protein.^[1]

References

1. ^ Larsson K, Wester K, Nilsson P, Uhlén M, Hober S, Wernérus H (2006). "Multiplexed PrEST immunization for high-throughput affinity proteomics". J. Immunol. Methods 315 (1–2): 110–20. doi:10.1016/j.jim.2006.07.014. PMID 16949094. 

See also

• Monoclonal antibodies