A more efficient and economical approach for monoclonal antibody production.

We describe here an efficient, economical way to produce monoclonal antibodies in tissue culture flasks. Hybridoma cells are cultured in horizontal tissue culture flasks until 90% confluent, and then the flasks are filled with culture medium and placed in a standing position and left in the incubator for 3-4 weeks until most of the cells have died. At this time, the culture fluid is harvested for antibodies. With this method, which involves only a single cell plating and one change of medium, the yield of antibodies from one tissue culture flask is 6- to 9-fold higher than is obtained by the usual method of sequential replating and harvesting of cells and media. This approach therefore saves labor as well as costly materials, and minimizes risk of contamination.