monoclonal antibody

noun

plural monoclonal antibodies

: an antibody that is derived from the clone of a single B cell and that is produced in large quantities of identical cells possessing affinity for the same epitope on a specific antigen (as a cancer cell)

Note: Monoclonal antibodies are typically used in immunotherapy (such as in the treatment of autoimmune or inflammatory disorders and cancer), diagnostic testing, and cell identification and tracing. Hybridoma cell lines are typically employed to produce an unlimited supply of monoclonal antibodies.

Researchers studying this and other cancers have long sought to use monoclonal antibodies—biological molecules that bind only to particular target cells—to attack tumors directly or to shuttle toxins selectively to cancer cells.

—R. Weiss

The ideal immunosuppressive monoclonal antibody would be one that abrogates responses to a defined antigen and preserves responses to all others.

—Thomas A. Waldmann

The drug, which would be given by intravenous infusion every four weeks, is a monoclonal antibody that tamps down the immune system …

—Andrew Pollack

—abbreviation Mab, mAb, MAB, mab

Examples of monoclonal antibody in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Babies less than 8 months old who were born without such maternal vaccine protection are recommended to get a monoclonal antibody drug to protect against severe disease, as are babies at high risk between 8 and 19 months. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026

Tozorakimab is being developed by AstraZeneca as a first-in-class monoclonal antibody binding interleukin-33, a protein released by damaged cells that triggers inflammation in conditions such as COPD. — Dr. Jennifer Miao, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026

If the mother was not vaccinated, infants younger than 8 months should recieve nirsevimab, which is not a vaccine but a monoclonal antibody shot. — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026

For infants, the RSV monoclonal antibody is typically recommended around virus season, from October through March. — Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for monoclonal antibody

• afterbody
• busybody
• everybody
• autoantibody
• bawdy
• body
• gaudy
• khadi
• mahdi
• noddy
• oddi
• shoddy

Medical Definition

monoclonal antibody

noun

: an antibody that is derived from the clone of a single B cell and that is produced in large quantities of identical cells possessing affinity for the same epitope on a specific antigen (as a cancer cell)

Note: Monoclonal antibodies are typically used in immunotherapy (such as in the treatment of autoimmune or inflammatory disorders and cancer), diagnostic testing, and cell identification and tracing. Hybridoma cell lines are typically employed to produce an unlimited supply of monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies have largely been applied clinically to the diagnosis and therapy of cancer and the modulation of the immune response to produce immunosuppression for treatment of autoimmune and graft versus host diseases (GVHD) and for prevention of allograft rejection.

—Thomas A. Walmann, Science

Monoclonal antibodies can distinguish and single out a specific protein from the other molecules around it. Monoclonal antibodies are versatile and can assist in the identification, tracking, and alteration of specific proteins.

—Maryann Bozzette, Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing

—abbreviation MAb, mAb, MAB, mab