Monoclonal Antibodies: an Introduction

摘要

Monoclonal antibodies (MCA ) are ant ibodies that areidentical and derived from one type of immune cell, each aclone of a single parent cell. The extraordinarily specific natureof these antibodies is what makes MCA unique and opens upthe possibilities of revolutionary applications including targetedtherapy and other diagnostic applications (such as pregnancy testand testing for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).MCA have dramatically changed how we think about and treatautoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatorybowel disease (IBD) and multiple sclerosis (MS).