Generation and production of engineered antibodies.

Various forms of recombinant monoclonal antibodies are being used increasingly, mainly for therapeutic purposes. This review specifically focuses on what is now called antibody engineering, and discusses the generation of chimeric, humanized, and fully human recombinant antibodies, immunoglobulin fragments, and artificial antigen-binding molecules. Since the production of recombinant antibodies is a limiting factor in their availability, and a shortage is expected in the future, different expression systems for recombinant antibodies and transgenic organisms as bioreactors are also discussed, along with their advantages and drawbacks.