Monoclonal antibodies: methods and clinical laboratory applications.

Kohler and Milstein have shown that individual clones of normal antibody-secreting lymphocytes could be immortalized by fusion with myeloma cells. These investigators initiated a new era of technology with the successful in vitro production of monoclonal antibodies via somatic cell hybridization. With the use of monoclonal antibodies, many major problems arising from the limited specificity and reproducibility of conventional antisera can be solved. Some of the commonly employed methods for the production of monoclonal antibody are: (1) fusion of sensitized lymphocytes and myelomas from different sources to produce continuous antibody-producing cell lines; (2) in vitro viral transformation of sensitized lymphocytes to form continuous antibody-producing cells; (3) hybrid fusion of sensitized lymphocytes and continuous B lymphocyte cell lines. During the past few years, monoclonal antibody methodology has been used in almost every area of biological research. Monoclonal antibodies have been used as structural probes for proteins and hormones, and as highly specific agents for histocompatibility testing, tumor localization, immunotherapy, purification of molecules, identification of new surface antigens on lymphocytes and tumor cells, and detection of drug levels and microbial and parasitic diseases. In addition, several investigators have developed alternative methods for the production of human as well as mouse and rat monoclonal antibodies. The new technology of in vitro production of animal and human monoclonal antibodies will have many future applications in diagnosis and therapy in laboratory and clinical medicine.