Recent Developments and Perspectives on the Future of Human and Murine Monoclonal Antibodies in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer

Over the past 15 years there has been a substantial effort to develop the potential of monoclonal antibody technology into medical applications. Significant progress has been made, especially in in vitro applications where the superiority of monoclonal antibodies over polyclonal antibodies is undisputed. In vivo success has been achieved in the detection of malignant (1,2) and cardiovascular diseases (3,4) with additional applications in locating deep tissue sites of bacterial infection being identified and developed (5). In colon cancer (2) and malignant melanoma (6) accuracy of tumor detection exceeds 80 percent and, for at least some anatomical sites, tumor detection with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies is more sensitive than other detection methods (7,8). Within a short time, radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies have achieved a niche in the management of a few types of cancer where the information obtained complements that obtained by other methods and contributes to the effective management of these cancer patients. However, a host of technological difficulties continue to generate questions as to how broadly the monoclonal antibody niche is likely to develop in future years.