HUMAN-ANTIBODIES BY DESIGN

Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) have long been considered a good class of natural drugs, both because they mimic their natural role in the body and because they have no inherent toxicity. Although rodent Mabs are readily generated, their widespread use as therapeutic agents has been hampered because they are recognized as foreign by the patient. Evide ntly, clinical Mabs should be as human as possible and results with so me of the more recently developed chimerized and humanized Mabs are te stimony to this. Mabs that are entirely human are now being produced f rom phage display and transgenic mice. The first fully human Mabs gene rated by phage display have already entered clinical trials, and toget her with recent advances in these technologies, may finally realize th e full potential of antibodies.