The Effect of Indonesian Royal Jelly Supplementation on the Growth of Hybridoma and Its Monoclonal Antibody Production

Abstract

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) is the material that is used widely for biological experiments, therapeutic, and diagnosis. The production of monoclonal antibodies by in vitro method is still challenging, and it takes a high cost due to the use of animal-derived serum as the main growth-promoting factor. The previous study reported royal jelly (RJ) from Apis mellifera as a potential proliferation factor in mammalian cell culture. Hence, this study was performed to evaluate the effect of Indonesian RJ supplementation in culture medium on hybridoma growth and its MAb production. The research was conducted by true experimental methods using hybridoma clone SF2 and RF10. These clones were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 3% FBS and 1% Penicillin-Streptomycin as the initial culture medium. The number of viable cells was counted by haemocytometer on day 8 after gradual treatment with or without the addition of 1% RJ. MTT assay was performed to evaluate the cell viability. In addition, the level of secreted MAb in the culture medium was measured by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All results were analyzed statistically. The results show that the addition of 1% RJ into the culture medium has decreased the cell viability compared to the control. Thus, cell viability reduction may influence the level of MAb produced by hybridoma clone SF2 and RF10. The negative result given in this experiment may have been caused by an unsuitable concentration of RJ used in this experiment. Also, a substance included in the crude RJ probably causes cytotoxicity in the cells.