Antibody properties Representative source/technology Stability Specificity Affinity Production time Reproducibility Half-time Penetrability Cost effectiveness Immunogenicity Immunogenicity Animal Welfare
Polyclonal antibody Polyclonal full length Antiserum; IgY antibody extracted hen egg yolk +++ + +++ + + + + ++++ +++ + +
Monoclonal antibody Monoclonal full length Full length IgG hybridoma technique ++ +++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + +++ +++ + +
Genetically engineered antibody fragments Monoclonal functional fragments Fragment antigen-binding (Fab); scFv (single chain variable fragments); VHH (heavy chain variable domain or single-domain antibodies) + +++ +++ +++ +++ + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++
Antibody mimetics +++ +++ ++++ +++ +++ +++ +++ + + +++ +++