ABSTRACT
The idea of targeted therapy using antibodies dates from the beginning of the twentieth century when it was proposed by Paul Ehrlich, and indeed antibodies have been used in humans for many years as polyclonal antisera, particularly for passive immunisation. Since the discovery of the technology for production of MAbs there has been intense interest in their development as therapeutic agents for human disease. However, until recently progression of many MAb-based therapeutics was limited by the human immune response generated by the administration of murine or rat antibodies. Since the introduction of recombinant chimeric and humanised antibodies, and ultimately human antibodies, interest in developing therapeutics has been revived. There are now five antibody-based products licensed for human therapeutic use, and many more under clinical investigation (Table 4.1).
