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Article: Monoclonal Antibodies
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Monoclonal antibodies
Definition
Monoclonal antibodies are proteins produced in the laboratory from a single clone of a B-cell, the type of cells of the immune system that make antibodies.
Description
Antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins (Igs), are proteins that help identify foreign substances to the immune system, such as a bacteria or a virus. Antibodies work by binding to the foreign substance to mark it as foreign. The substance that the antibody binds to is called an antigen. All monoclonal antibodies of a particular type bind to the same antigen, which distinguishes them from polyclonal antibodies.
The structure of most antibodies can be divided into two parts: the section ...