Monoclonal Antibodies to Cytochromes P450

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are produced by the “hybridoma” technology developed by Kohler and Milstem in 1975 (1 ), which is a major and defining achievement of modern biology (2 ). The hybridoma methodology producmg MAbs was derived from the clonal selection theory of Burnet and colleagues (3 ), which stated that each B-lymphocyte antibody-forming cell and its progeny is committed to the production of a single, unique type of antibody molecule. This chemically defined MAb molecule specifically recognizes a single antigenic determinant or “epltope” on the protein antigen, which, in our studies, is a specific individual cytochrome P450 (P450). This specificity of the MAb continues for the lifetime of the hybridoma cell, which can be frozen or grown in culture indefinitely, and with its progeny, is a immortal source of an epitope-specific MAb. The MAbs are chemically defined, pure, epitope specific, and reproducible for limitless generations of cells.