Transgenic mice as a source of fully human antibodies for the treatment ofcancer

The last two years have seen a renaissance of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of disease. Of the eight antibodies currently approved for human therapy, two are for the treatment of cancer. In large part, the revival o f antibodies has been driven by technology developments geared toward makin g antibodies less likely to elicit an anti-antibody response in humans. The development of transgenic mice, XenoMouse(TM) animals, capable of making f ully human antibodies offers new opportunities for generating antibodies of therapeutic quality. Recently, this technology has been applied to the gen eration of a fully human antibody to the epidermal growth factor receptor. A description of the development of this antibody serves to illustrate the power and ease of use of XenoMouse technology.