8 - Production of Monoclonal Antibodies

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the production of monoclonal antibodies. All the currently available mouse myeloma cell lines used for hybridoma production are of BALB/c origin, and unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, BALB/c mice are used as recipients for the initial immunization. The resulting hybridomas grow in BALB/c mice. Several investigators have successfully made hybridomas by fusing spleen cells from rats with myeloma cells from mice. These hybrids appear to be as stable as mouse-mouse hybrids, but in general, they can only be grown in tissue culture. Occasionally, such hybrids grow in “nude” mice, but these mice are difficult to breed and maintain in good health. There are now numerous myeloma that have been used successfully for the generation of hybridomas. The chapter also focuses on the equipment required for the production of hybridomas like biohazard or laminar flow hood, CO2 incubator, Liquid nitrogen facility, and many more. Several new methods have been published for the large-scale production of monoclonal antibodies in tissue culture.