Monoclonal antibodies in immunodiagnostic assays: a review of recent applications

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have proven to be effective biological reagents in the immunodiagnostic assays. This is due to their binding accuracy to many pathogens, thus, making them valuable research tools. Since the discovery of hybridoma technology by Kohler and Milstein, the use of monoclonal antibodies produced by the hybrid cells have been employed in diagnosis of several diseases. Monoclonal antibody production has several procedures with considerable variations, but the principles remain the same. Improvements in the field of cell culture technology have led to the production of improved qualities of monoclonal antibodies. In general, these antibodies are important biomedical reagents used in research, especially in the field of laboratory diagnostics for a number of different types of diseases in humans and animals. Some of the areas where application of monoclonal antibodies triumph are herein discussed. This review is aimed to assess various diagnostic assay techniques where monoclonal antibodies are applied in order to provide a first-hand information, especially for beginners in monoclonal antibody production, characterisation, evaluation and /or its applications in research and diagnosis.