Hybridoma technology

Hybridoma technology is a method for producing large quantities of monoclonal antibodies by fusing antibody producing B cells with myeloma cells (cancerous B cells). This creates hybrid cells, hybridomas, that produce the antibody from their parent B cell whilst maintaining the properties of the parental myeloma cell line being immortal (endlessly reproducing) and having desirable properties for cell culture. The B cells to be used are generally gathered from animals who have been immunized with an antigen against which an antibody targeting it is desired.

After forming hybridomas any non-hybrid cells are killed before screening and monoclonalization to create hybridoma lines that are derived from one parental cell and thus producing the same antibody against the desired target.

The production of monoclonal antibodies was invented by César Milstein and Georges J. F. Köhler in 1975. They shared the Nobel Prize of 1984 for Medicine and Physiology with Niels Kaj Jerne, who made other contributions to immunology. The term hybridoma was coined by Leonard Herzenberg during his sabbatical in Milstein's laboratory in 1976–1977.