The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) petitioned the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on April 23, 1997, to prohibit the use of animals in the production of mAb. On September 18, 1997, NIH declined to prohibit the use of mice in mAb production, stating that "the ascites method of mAb production is scientifically appropriate for some research projects and cannot be replaced." On March 26, 1998, AAVS submitted a second petition, stating that "NIH failed to provide valid scientific reasons for not supporting a proposed ban." The office of the NIH director asked the National Research Council to conduct a study of methods of producing mAb. In response to that request, the Research Council appointed the Committee on Methods of Producing Monoclonal Antibodies, to act on behalf of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the Commission on Life Sciences, to conduct the study. The 11 expert members of the committee had extensive experience in biomedical research, laboratory animal medicine, animal welfare, pain research, and patient advocacy (Appendix B). The committee was asked to determine whether there was a scientific necessity for the mouse ascites method; if so, whether the method caused pain or distress; and, if so, what could be done to minimize the pain or distress. The committee was also asked to comment on available in vitro methods; to suggest what acceptable scientific rationale, if any, there was for using the mouse ascites method; and to identify regulatory requirements for the continued use of the mouse ascites method. The committee held an open data-gathering meeting during which its members summarized data bearing on those questions. A 1-day workshop (Appendix A) was attended by 34 participants, 14 of whom made formal presentations. A second meeting was held to finalize the report. The present report was written on the basis of information in the literature and information presented at the meeting and the workshop.

On August 7, 1975, Kohler and Milstein published in Nature (256:495) a report describing "Continuous cultures of fused cells secreting antibody of predefined specificity. " Their report has become a classic and has already had a profound effect on basic and applied research in biology and medicine. By the time the first Workshop on Lymphocyte Hybridomas (Current Topics in Microbiology and Im munology 81, 1978) was held on April 3-5, 1978, in Bethesda, Maryland, investi gators from many laboratories had made hybrids between plasmacytomas and spleen cells from immunized animals and had obtained monoclonal antibodies reacting with a broad variety of antigenic determinants. At the time Kohler and Milstein introduced this new technology, the editors of this volume were involved in the production of antisera against differentiation antigens (K. B. B. ), histocompatibility antigens (T. ]. McK. ), and human tumor associated antigens (R. H. K. ). Because of the potential usefulness of monoclonal antibodies in these areas, we each began production of hybridomas and analysis of the resulting monoclonal reagents. One of the most interesting aspects of participation in the early stages of the development and application of hybrid oma technology has been observing how the implications of the initial observa tions gradually spread first among the practitioners of immunology and immu nogenetics, and then to other areas of the biological sciences, such as developmental biology, biochemistry, human genetics, and cell and tumor biology.

Soon after Kohler and Milstein described the use of somatic cell hybridization for the production of murine monoclonal antibodies of desired specificity, this relatively simple technique became widely applied. Indeed, production of murine monoclonal antibodies is now considered routine by immunologists and nonimmunologists alike. However, as heterologous proteins, mouse monoclonal antibodies have one major limitation: they are immunogenic in man and, hence, their use in vivo is severely limited. An obvious solution to this problem is to produce human hybridomas with the same techniques used for the production of rodent hybrids. Unfortunately, the history of human hybridomas has been marked by substantive and often exasperating tech nical problems, and the first reports of hybrids secreting human immu noglobulin of desired specificity did not appear until 1980. These reports were met with initial enthusiasm, but it soon became apparent that while human lymphocytes might be fused, their frequency, level of Ig synthesis, and stability were such that production of human antibodies with this method was neither routine nor practical. Nonetheless, a sufficient number of investiga tors persevered, and during the next 5 years relatively efficient B-cell fusion partners as well as improved methods of Epstein-Barr virus transformation were developed. Generation of human T -T hybrids has also been achieved, although problems of chromosomal stability remain a substantial obstacle, more so than with B-cell lines.

This volume contains detailed, comprehensive advice on rat, mouse and human hybridoma production. It begins with a general introduction, then describes the practical applications of the technology with photographs and protocols for everything from animal dissection to epitope analysis of antigens.

The introduction of monoclonal antibodies revolutionized immunology. The development of human monoclonal antibodies was inspired primarily by the enormous clinical benefits promised by these reagents which can be used as anti-inflammatory reagents, anti-tumor reagents and reagents for passive immunization in a variety of pathologies. Human Monoclonal Antibodies: Methods and Protocols presents technical protocols of cellular and molecular methods for the production, purification and application of human monoclonal antibodies, as well as review articles on related topics of human monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, Human Monoclonal Antibodies: Methods and Protocols seeks to serve both professionals and novices with its well-honed methodologies which will prove invaluable in a clinical setting.

Includes all of the information required to produce monoclonal antibodies in the laboratory and to prepare them for use in a multitude of given applications. Production procedures are treated in chronological order, beginning with basic tissue culture techniques, immunization strategies and screening test design, followed by production of hybridoma cell lines and basic antibody characterization, purification and labeling. Each chapter contains explanatory text on each step with comparative analysis of methods where appropriate. All necessary experimental protocols are presented in a self-contained format that is easy to follow in the laboratory. Alternative protocols are provided where relevant; for others not included in full, source references are presented. Surveys the current status of human hybridoma production and antibody engineering using molecular biology techniques.