Applications

Diagnostic testsedit

Once monoclonal antibodies for a given substance have been produced, they can be used to detect the presence of this substance. Proteins can be detected using the Western blot and immuno dot blot tests. In immunohistochemistry, monoclonal antibodies can be used to detect antigens in fixed tissue sections, and similarly, immunofluorescence can be used to detect a substance in either frozen tissue section or live cells.

Analytic and chemical usesedit

Antibodies can also be used to purify their target compounds from mixtures, using the method of immunoprecipitation.

Therapeutic usesedit

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies act through multiple mechanisms, such as blocking of targeted molecule functions, inducing apoptosis in cells which express the target, or by modulating signalling pathways.

Cancer treatmentedit

One possible treatment for cancer involves monoclonal antibodies that bind only to cancer-cell-specific antigens and induce an immune response against the target cancer cell. Such mAbs can be modified for delivery of a toxin, radioisotope, cytokine or other active conjugate or to design bispecific antibodies that can bind with their Fab regions both to target antigen and to a conjugate or effector cell. Every intact antibody can bind to cell receptors or other proteins with its Fc region.

MAbs approved by the FDA for cancer include:

Autoimmune diseasesedit

Monoclonal antibodies used for autoimmune diseases include infliximab and adalimumab, which are effective in rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and ankylosing spondylitis by their ability to bind to and inhibit TNF-α. Basiliximab and daclizumab inhibit IL-2 on activated T cells and thereby help prevent acute rejection of kidney transplants. Omalizumab inhibits human immunoglobulin E (IgE) and is useful in treating moderate-to-severe allergic asthma.

Examples of therapeutic monoclonal antibodiesedit

Monoclonal antibodies for research applications can be found directly from antibody suppliers, or through use of a specialist search engine like CiteAb. Below are examples of clinically important monoclonal antibodies.

Main category	Type	Application	Mechanism/Target	Mode
Anti- inflammatory	infliximab	rheumatoid arthritis Crohn's disease ulcerative colitis ankylosing spondylitis	inhibits TNF-α	chimeric
	adalimumab	rheumatoid arthritis Crohn's disease ulcerative colitis ankylosing spondylitis	inhibits TNF-α	human
	basiliximab	acute rejection of kidney transplants	inhibits IL-2 on activated T cells	chimeric
	daclizumab	acute rejection of kidney transplants	inhibits IL-2 on activated T cells	humanized
	omalizumab	moderate-to-severe allergic asthma	inhibits human immunoglobulin E (IgE)	humanized
Anti-cancer	gemtuzumab	relapsed acute myeloid leukemia	targets myeloid cell surface antigen CD33 on leukemia cells	humanized
	alemtuzumab	B cell leukemia	targets an antigen CD52 on T- and B-lymphocytes	humanized
	rituximab	non-Hodgkin's lymphoma rheumatoid arthritis	targets phosphoprotein CD20 on B lymphocytes	chimeric
	trastuzumab	breast cancer with HER2/neu overexpression	targets the HER2/neu (erbB2) receptor	humanized
	nimotuzumab	approved in squamous cell carcinomas, Glioma clinical trials for other indications underway	EGFR inhibitor	humanized
	cetuximab	approved in squamous cell carcinomas, colorectal carcinoma	EGFR inhibitor	chimeric
	bevacizumab & ranibizumab	Anti-angiogenic cancer therapy	inhibits VEGF	humanized
Anti-cancer and anti-viral	bavituximab	cancer, hepatitis C infection	immunotherapy, targets phosphatidylserine	chimeric
Other	palivizumab	RSV infections in children	inhibits an RSV fusion (F) protein	humanized
	abciximab	prevent coagulation in coronary angioplasty	inhibits the receptor GpIIb/IIIa on platelets	chimeric