ANTIBODIES IN 200 PATIENTS AND INITIAL ATTEMPTS AT RADIOIMMUNOTHERAPY

Historical Background The successful application of radiolabeled antibodies in diagnosis and therapy of human diseases is the final result of a long and intimate coop­ eration and collaboration between at least four scientific branches: immu­ nology, radiochemistry/biology, oncology, and nuclear medicine (Table 1/ Figure 1). Since Jenner made his great discovery of the protective action of vac­ cinia against smallpox, nearly two centuries have passed away. Jenner's recognition remained isolated until one hundred years later the work of Pasteur and Koch afforded the first basis on which the study of artificial immunity could again be undertaken. With Behring's and Kitasato's disco­ very, that in the blood serum of animals immunized against diphtheria and tetanus, there were contained antibodies which were able to specifically protect other animals against the toxins of these diseases (1), an entire­ ly new and extremely promising prospect of immunizing mankind against the majority of the infectious diseases was opened. Paul Ehrlich's famous "Side-Chain Theory" - first expounded to a larger audience on the occasion of the opening, in 1899, of the Institute for Experimental Therapeutics in Frankfurt/Main, his investigations on cytotoxic immunity, with the recognition of the two components concerned,