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Figure 7.1 Immunoglobulin-G (IgG) molecule:

Figure 7.2 Schematic representation of immunoglobulin domains:

7.2 Monoclonal antibodies

The concept of monoclonal antibodies was given for the first time by Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein in the year 1975. Monoclonal antibodies are the antibodies that are specific to one particular antigen as they are made by identical immune cells that are several copies of a same parent cell e.g. any tumor cell of a specific region say plasma cells, are monoclonal and thus have the ability to produce antibodies of same specificity. The basic technique involved in making of monoclonal antibodies relies on fusion of B cells from an immunized mouse with a myeloma (tumor cell line) cell line and let the cells grow in a condition where unfused normal and tumor cells cannot survive. The cells that are fused and able to grow through this procedure are called as hybridomas .