monoclonal antibody: Meaning and Definition of

mon'oclo'nal an'tibody

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. antibody produced by a laboratory-grown cell clone, either of a hybridoma or a virus-transformed lymphocyte, that is more abundant and uniform than natural antibody and is able to bind specifically to a single site on almost any chosen antigen or reveal previously unknown antigen sites: used as an analytic tool in scientific research and medical diagnosis and potentially important in the treatment of certain diseases. Abbr.: MAb
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.