Antibody generation raises a number of questions… what is the difference between their classes, forms and types? And how do recombinant monoclonal antibodies (rAbs) overcome the drawbacks of classical monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)?

Monoclonal antibodies are ubiquitous in biomedical research and medicine. They are used to fight, diagnose and research disease and to develop and test new drugs. The antibodies are divided in 5 classes or isotypes, several subtypes and forms and can be generated in vivo or in vitro.

In this short article, my aim is to define what an antibody is, to highlight the differences between a hybridoma monoclonal antibody and a recombinant monoclonal antibody and to point out how rAbs bring solutions to the classical drawbacks of mAbs.