Monoclonal antibodies (mAb or moAb) are monospecific antibodies
that are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a
unique parent cell, in contrast to polyclonal antibodies which are
made from several different immune cells. Monoclonal antibodies
have monovalent affinity, in that they bind to the same epitope.
Given almost any substance, it is possible to produce monoclonal
antibodies that specifically bind to that substance; they can then
serve to detect or purify that substance. This has become an
important tool in biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine.
When used as medications, the non-proprietary drug name ends in
-mab (see "Nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies"), and many
immunotherapy specialists use the word mab anacronymically.