Monoclonal antibodies and possibilities of their application in medicine

: Recent developments in tissue culture technology have allowed successful fusion of immune B cells with appropriate tumor cells, selection of the resulting B cell hybridomas as well as their cloning and continuous propagation. Cloned B cell hybridomas produce monoclonal antibodies, i.e. antibodies of a given class and specificity. In many cases monoclonal antibodies are superior to conventional antisera. In diagnostic use monoclonal antibodies can replace conventional antisera in radioimmuno assays and enzymeimmuno assays as well as in typing of tissues, bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, monoclonal antibodies have been used for 100% purification of valuable compounds such as interferon. Due to their monospecificity, in the near future monoclonal antibodies will offer new opportunities in passive immunization against infections diseases and, particularly, in tumor therapy.