Subcutaneous culture chamber for continuous infusion of monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies allow the precise definition of molecular components present on tumour cell surfaces. Some human monoclonal antibodies prepared by fusing intratumoral lymphocytes from patients undergoing craniotomy for malignant glioma with cells from a specially derived human lymphoid line (LICR-LON-HMy2) bind to glioma surface components. To study the feasibility of continuous administration of human monoclonal antibodies directed against glioma we designed a chamber which enables hybridoma cells to be cultured in the subcutaneous tissue. This chamber allows antibodies to diffuse out, and nutrients and oxygen necessary for continued cell viability to diffuse in. Cells are unable to traverse the membrane pores of the device, so there is no risk that malignant cells put in the chamber can metastasise. The chamber has now been inserted in one patient with recurrent glioma, in whom the kinetics of internally labelled antibody release has been monitored.