Technical aspects of the production and growth of hybridomas

This thesis deals with factors influencing the production and growth of hybridomas. The hybridoma technique concerns fusion of antibody-forming cells to appropriate tumor cells to produce hybrid cells that can grow continuously and can serve as an unlimited source of homogeneous antibodies with specificity for one particular antigen. Conventional antisera used in medicine and basic science are usually obtained by immunization of animals. There are, however, certain inherent limitations in the use of these antisera. First, it is impossible to reproduce precisely any given antiserum; each antiserum is broadly specific and usually contains antibodies to many different antigenic determinants (Brodsky et al., 1979; Ledbetter and Herzenberg, 1979). Even a small polypeptide molecule such as insulin has a variety of antigenic sites against which antibodies may be directed (Wu et al., 1986). Secondly, for any well-defined antigenic site a broad variety of antibodies can be raised with differences in affinity, valency and (sub)class, all of which may affect the functional activity of the antibody. Thirdly, conventional antisera are limited by both the quantity and titer of antibody that can be obtained.