Monoclonal antibody therapy of cancer

Abstract

After two decades of preclinical and clinical trials, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are now used routinely in the treatment of cancer. The development of hybridoma technology, first described by Köhler and Milstein in 1975, allowed the therapeutic potential of mAbs to be explored [1]. With the promise to target and destroy malignant cells selectively, mAbs were initially seen as "magic bullets." Early studies, however, revealed various physical, biological, and immunological limitations to their clinical use. Advances in immunology and molecular biology allowed many obstacles to the effective use of mAbs to be surmounted. Genetically engineered chimeric, humanized, and fully human antibodies have been developed to overcome the lack of intrinsic antitumor activity of many murine mAbs. Because host effector mechanisms are not required for tumor killing, radioimmunotherapy and antibody-drug conjugates have also become promising approaches.