Monoclonal anitbodies in the lymphatics: toward the diagnosis and therapy of tumor metastases.

Monoclonal antibodies subcutaneously injected into mice track to regional lymph nodes and specifically label target cells there. The lymphatic route of administration can be expected to provide much higher sensitivity, higher target-to-background ratio, faster localization, and lower toxicity than the intravenous route when the aim is to diagnose or treat tumor metastases or lymphoma in the lymph nodes.