Monoclonal antibodies and its applications: An overview

Abstract

Almost eight decades ago Paul Ehrlich proposed the potential use of antibodies as carriers of bioactive agents to the target sites, and was known as 'magic bullet' concept. Although considered promising, early attempts to apply this concept were largerly unsuccessful due to inability to prepare large quantities of homogenous antibodies with defined specificity But now-a-day, with the development of hybridoma technology, it is possible to produce virtually unlimited quantities of homogenous antibodies having a defined specificity i.e. monoclonal antibodies, which have found use in sensitive immunodiagnostic tests. The introduction of hybridoma technology by Kohler and Milstein in 1976 has transformed the whole field of immunology within a brief five-year period. There is hardly an immunology laboratory that is not using monoclonal antibodies as reagents in one form or the other. Though it is true that the concept of targeted therapeutic system is gaining more and more interest in the pharmaceutical as well as in medical community, however, the therapeutic use of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) and their conjugates is still in its infancy. This arcticle gives an insight primarily into the concept of the monoclonal antibodies and its application in therapeutics and drug targeting.