What are Monoclonal Antibodies and why are they a revolutionary discovery in medicine?

Answer 1

Monoclonal antibodies are clones of a unique parent cell that bind to a single antigen. This means that its possible to design a monoclonal antibody that will bind to any specific substance and that substance alone. Their characteristic specificity as opposed to a drug's selectivity makes them valuable a tool used in the research, diagnosis and treatment of diverse diseases.

As a diagnostic agent, it can be used to detect the presence of a specific substance in the body. The western blot is one example. In research they are used to purify their target compounds from mixtures. And in therapeutics, such as cancer therapy, they are designed to target specific cancer cell antigens and induce an immune response against it. This is just a very short list. The uses of monoclonal and polyclonal antibody are numerous and far-reaching but you can see its potential.

Answer 2

They are considered a revolutionary in clinical medicine due to their ability for immune modulation, having different modes of action such as cell killing, and/or neutralization of an infectious organism; through various processes in including blocking a physiologic ligand-receptor interaction or by recruiting immune cells and proteins (eg, phagocytes, natural killer [NK] cells, complement) that can kill the target cell. 

For that reason, they are used to treat various disorders, including: 

1. Hematologic malignancies 
2. Solid tumors
3. Immune disorders, 
4. Hypercholesterolemia, 
5. Asthma,
6. Osteoporosis
7. Inflammatory bowel disease
8. Infections