Advantages of Monoclonal Antibodies
- In Vitro method for getting monoclonal antibodies reduce the use of mice at the antibody - production stage.
- The method known as "Vitro" are usually the methods of choice for large-scale production by the pharmaceutics industry because the ease of culture for production.
- In Vitro methods avoid the need to submit animal protocols to IACUCs. (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees)
- In Vitro methods avoid or decease the need for laboratory personnel experienced in animal handling.
 |  |
Disadvantages of Monoclonal Antibodies
- Monoclonal antibodies are generally lower than polyclonal antibodies and because the antibody is monoclonal, it may not produce the desired biologic response then a normal antibody would do.
- Monoclonal antibodies against native proteins may lose reactivity with antigens.
- Antibodies sometimes display unexpected crossreactions with unrelated antigens.
- Time and effort commitment: VERY LARGE/TIME CONSUMING
- Method for obtaining and testing MAbs (Monoclonal Antibodies) can be highly expensive.
What's the controversy?
Like many other discoveries, monoclonal antibodies also have their controversy because they are produced in mice/rats, there's no logistical way to make them from human cells. That is the biggest controversial problem involving monoclonal antibodies thus far. |  |
