A. Identify the four types of antibody used for therapeutic purposes. B. How is each produced? C. (i) Which is most desirable for the treatment of chronic conditions? (ii) Why? (iii) Provide an example

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. The four types of therapeutic antibody include (i) mouse monoclonal antibodies, (ii) chimeric monoclonal antibodies, (iii) humanized monoclonal antibodies, and (iv) fully human monoclonal antibodies.
B. (i) Mouse monoclonal antibodies are produced from hybridoma cell lines obtained by immortalizing mouse B cells by fusing them with a tumor cell. Hybridomas secreting antibody with the appropriate specificity for antigen are cloned and propagated. (ii) Chimeric monoclonal antibodies are produced by fusing the coding regions of the variable regions of mouse monoclonal antibodies, known to have specificity for a particular antigen, with the coding regions of human constant regions. (iii) Humanized monoclonal antibodies retain only the complementarity-determining regions of mouse monoclonal antibodies, and all remaining regions are replaced with human-derived regions. (iv) Fully human monoclonal antibodies are made either by using human hybridoma cell lines or by using transgenic mice whose immunoglobulin genes have been replaced by human immunoglobulin genes.
C. (i) Fully human monoclonal antibodies are the most desirable, because (ii) they will not stimulate an anti-constant region antibody response in the recipient and can therefore be used for repeated treatment in chronic diseases without complications and without reducing therapeutic efficacy. (iii) Adalimumab is an example of a fully human monoclonal antibody used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It neutralizes the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α to decrease inflammation of the joints.