Monoclonal antibodies derived from hybrid myelomas

The hybrid myeloma technique for the production of monoclonal antibodies has been widely applied in many areas of biological and medical research. The strategy for derivation of monoclonal antibodies requires careful consideration of factors such as the initial immunization with antigen, choice of myeloma cell line, and method of assay for the desired antibodies. Once the hybrid lines have been isolated and established in culture they will continue to secrete the monoclonal antibody indefinitely, providing routine cloning is carried out to eliminate the accumulation of variants. Production of human monoclonal antibodies is at present limited by the lack of suitable parental myeloma cell lines although some success has been reported using both mouse and human cell lines. Under many assay conditions monoclonal antibodies behave differently to antisera directed against the same antigen but some of these differences are eliminated when two or more monoclonal antibodies are mixed. The unique properties of monoclonal antibodies also may allow subtle distinctions to be made between closely related antigens.