Monoclonal antibodies.

The hybridoma technology developed by Köhler and Milstein has initiated a new era in biological sciences. In the last decade the possibility of generating limited amounts of monoclonal antibodies of predefined specificity has become a routine method in many laboratories throughout the world. The constant quality of various antibody preparations from 1 hybridoma cell line represents another important advantage of this method. Apart from the use for several purposes, e.g. HLA-typing, differentiation of lymphocyte subpopulations and blood group antigens, monoclonal antibodies play an important role in the determination of various tumor markers. In most modern immunoassays monoclonal antibodies are used. Furthermore, there is nowadays a limited experience concerning the in vivo use of monoclonal antibodies in malignant disease. Radiolabelled antibody immunodetection has been applied e.g. in colorectal and testicular tumors for the detection of tumor metastases. The therapeutic use of monoclonal antibodies has been reported in some patients with tumors of the hemopoietic system. The production of new murine and human monoclonal antibodies against various tumor types is subject of current investigations. The aim of these efforts is the development of monoclonal antibodies suitable for in vitro tumor diagnosis and application in vivo.