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UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 48

The concept being tested: Monoclonal antibodies as therapeutic agents in disease treatment.

With reference to monoclonal antibodies, often mentioned in news, consider the following statements: I. They are man-made proteins. II. They stimulate immunological function due to their ability to bind to specific antigens. III. They are used in treating viral infections like that of Nipah virus. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Options

  1. AI and II only
  2. BII and III only
  3. CI and III only
  4. DI, II and IIICorrect answer

The answer: I, II and III

Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-engineered proteins, produced from a single clone of B cells through hybridoma fusion or recombinant DNA technology, so calling them man-made is accurate even though their structure mimics the body's own antibodies. Their entire therapeutic value rests on monospecificity: each antibody is designed to bind one precise epitope on a target antigen, and this binding neutralises a pathogen, blocks a receptor the pathogen needs to enter cells, or flags the target for destruction by the rest of the immune system, which is the immunological stimulation the second statement refers to. This is not limited to cancer or autoimmune disease. During Nipah virus outbreaks in Kerala, the experimental human monoclonal antibody m102.4, which targets the Nipah G glycoprotein, has been administered on a compassionate-use basis under ICMR-NIV protocols. Since all three statements are factually correct, the fully inclusive combination is the right answer.

What UPSC was testing

UPSC is testing whether aspirants know monoclonal antibody use already extends into emerging viral outbreak response and not just oncology or autoimmune therapy; the Nipah reference reads like an obscure detail designed to tempt candidates into eliminating a statement that is in fact true.

How often this comes up

This concept has appeared 12 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.

More questions on this

Other past-year questions touching Emerging Viral Diseases (COVID-19, Nipah, Zika, Influenza).

UPSC 2025 · Q49

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