In 1984, Köhler and Milstein discovered the technology of obtaining hybridomas and obtaining antibodies, for which they also received the Nobel Prize. The hybridomas were obtained by fusing mouse myeloma cells and mouse-B lymphocytes. Monoclonal antibodies were further used as diagnostic reagents. Today, they are used to treat a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and represent the fastest growing biological drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. Due to the ever-increasing demand for monoclonal antibodies, new methods with different advantages are being developed. Further improvements of the various phases of the classical method emerged, and later came methods with completely different approaches, such as phage display, expression in mammalian cells, and in transgenic plants. Phage display technology produces antibodies that have the same amino acid sequences as antibodies of human origin and therefore also have a lower level of immunogenicity than antibodies of mice or other animals. Mammalian cell cultures were mostly chosen primarily because of susceptibility to genetic manipulation, human-like glycosylation. Production in transgenic plants is used because it is easier to increase production and the costs are lower.
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