ABSTRACT
The potential uses of antibodies as molecular recognition moieties which target to a specific antigen and bring to a precise location a desired effector function have been recognized for some time. The ability to produce monospecific (monoclonal) antibodies to immunologically distinct epitopes has been available since 1975 (Kohler and Milstein, 1975) and yet today only two antibodies have been approved as therapeutic products; these being the anti-CD3 antibody OKT3, itself first described in 1979 and approved for the prevention of rejection of kidney transplants in 1986, and the more recently approved anti-digitoxin antibody Digibind. There are numerous opportunities for the use of monoclonal antibodies, so why are they not more widely used in human health care? The main issues concern raising monoclonal antibodies of appropriate specificity and affinity, overcoming potential in vivo problems such as the generation of host immune responses to the administered antibody and harnessing an appropriate effector mechanism, be it a natural immune effector mechanism or an exogenous entity such as a drug, radioisotope or toxin.
