Monoclonal antibodies are defined as homogenous specific antigen blood proteins produced in vitro from a single B cell. This entails immunizing an animal severally with a particular antigen, followed by removing B cells from the spleen. The removed B cells are then merged with cancerous B cells referred to as myeloma cells to generate hybridomas. Unlike normal B cells, hybridomas are immortalized. All cells are placed in a selective medium that promotes the growth of only hybridoma cells that produce monoclonal antibodies (mABs) purified in the medium.
Unlike conventional antibodies – also known as polyclonal antibodies (pAbs) – produced from the serum of immunized animals, mAbs are produced in vitro cultures. As a result, mAbs antibodies elicit negligible batch-to-batch variation, unlike pAbs, which contain a combination of several different antibodies secreted by distinct B cells. This leads to mAbs having several advantages over pAbs. For instance, mAb production results in the generation of antibodies that have equal specificities; however, pAb production leads to the generation of a mixture of antibodies at risk for cross-reactivity with other antigens. Moreover, a mAb preparation has only a single antibody of interest, while for pAb preparation, unless purified, it has a large number of antibodies with unspecified reactivities.