Human monoclonal antibodies: methods of production and some aspects of their application in oncology.

The currently available methods for the production of human monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) are: mouse-human hybrids, human-human hybrids, EBV transformation, and fusion of EBV-transformed specific B-lymphocytes with a malignant cell line. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks, but they are all inferior to an optimal functioning mouse hybridoma system. A significant obstacle is the lack of a reproducible method to obtain high amounts of antigen-specific B-lymphocytes. However, it seems that newly developed in vitro antigen-priming methods may be a significant aid to the solution of this problem. Human Mabs have already been obtained against some types of human cancer, and the reactivity pattern has provided some biological information that seems not to be obtainable with non-human Mabs. It furthermore seems that the technology for production of human Mabs now has progressed to the stage where it permits a realistic hope that they soon can be applied in the diagnosis and treatment of human cancer.