Generation and applications of monoclonal antibodies for livestock production

Monoclonal antibodies (MCAs) have found widespread applications in livestock production. Although the generation of murine MCAs is at present a routine, the production of homologous MCAs, especially important for in vivo applications, is still hampered by the lack of efficient homologous fusion partners for immortalization of antibody producing lymphocytes of livestock species. At present, MCAs are used in immunodiagnostic tests e.g. to monitor livestock reproduction and quality of livestock products. In the future MCAs will also be used in immunosensors for real-time and on-site applications in the same areas. The commercial application of MCAs for the immunomodulation of (pharmacologically induced) physiological processes underlying important (re)production traits is at present limited to the use of anti-PMSG MCAs in PMSG-induced superovulation. However, many potentially interesting applications are under investigation (e.g. immunopotentiation of growth hormone to enhance growth; immunocytolysis of adipocytes to increase lean meat production; immunoneutralization of GnRH for immunocastration; immunoimitation of hormone activity with anti-idiotype antibodies). Attempts to use specific MCAs for the sexing of embryos have been disappointing, mainly because of the relatively low accuracy. In the future, MCAs against membrane proteins which are specific for X- or Y-chromosome bearing spermatozoa might be used for bulk separation of livestock sperm. In general, it is expected that engineered (homologous) recombinant MCAs will largely contribute to the development of a new generation of rapid immunodiagnostic tests and effective immunomodulation applications. They will further increase the use of MCAs in livestock production.