monoclonal ab recognize one or more epitopes? - (Apr/18/2007 )
Maybe it's a stupid question, but i am really puzzled if a monoclonal antibody could bind to a unique epitope or more than one?
Thanks in advance for any info! 
-zhangt1-
Just one epitope, because it's based on a single clone of B cell, hence the name.
-swanny-
QUOTE (swanny @ Apr 18 2007, 08:11 PM)
Just one epitope, because it's based on a single clone of B cell, hence the name.
But in a situation like "Cross-reactivity" (refers to an antibody or population of antibodies binding to epitopes on other antigens. This can be caused either by low avidity or specificity of the antibody or by multiple distinct antigens having identical or very similar epitopes.)
Is that possible that a monoclonal antibody bind to another very similar epitope from different antigen?
-zhangt1-
QUOTE (swanny @ Apr 18 2007, 08:11 PM)
Just one epitope, because it's based on a single clone of B cell, hence the name.
If a monoclonal ab detect two bands, can you say the two peptides are immunologically related (with sequence homology, one is derived from the other )or the two peptides share similar epitopes but come from different proteins?
-zhangt1-
QUOTE (zhangt1 @ Apr 19 2007, 05:29 AM)
QUOTE (swanny @ Apr 18 2007, 08:11 PM)
Just one epitope, because it's based on a single clone of B cell, hence the name.
But in a situation like "Cross-reactivity" (refers to an antibody or population of antibodies binding to epitopes on other antigens. This can be caused either by low avidity or specificity of the antibody or by multiple distinct antigens having identical or very similar epitopes.)
Is that possible that a monoclonal antibody bind to another very similar epitope from different antigen?
or a different protein carries the same epitope as the original immunogenic protein
-The Bearer-