ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an appreciation of the remarkable progress accomplished far in radioimmunotherapy (RAIT). Data from experimental and clinical studies have led to an appreciation of the obstacles to effective RAIT. Significant obstacles to RAIT have been encountered and many have already been addressed successfully. One of the many potential applications of Monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) in cancer is their use to target toxins to the cancerous cells, thereby selectively inducing cytotoxicity. Although the concept of in vivo targeting originated with Paul Ehrlich, and important efforts to implement this concept, using polyclonal antibodiesm more sustained efforts to use radioimmunoimaging and RAIT for cancer were pioneered by Goldenberg et al. MoAb produced by hybridomas, although far from maturity, have stirred interest in many areas of medicine, with promises of hitherto undreamed of opportunities for control of cancers. Hybridomas, a fusion of animal or human lymphocytes and myeloma cells, specific immunoglobulins and can continue to produce them indefinitely in tissue culture.
