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.

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.

Monoclonal Antibodies: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition expands upon the previous edition with current, detailed modern approaches to isolate and characterize monoclonal antibodies against carefully selected epitopes. This edition includes new chapters covering the key steps to generate high quality monoclonals via different methods, from antigen generation to epitope mapping and quality control of the purified IgG. Chapters are divided into four parts corresponding to four distinct objectives. Part I covers monoclonal antibody generation, Part II deals with monoclonal antibody expression and purification, Part III presents methods for monoclonal antibody characterization and modification, and Part IV describes selected applications of monoclonal antibodies. Written in the highly 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 laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Monoclonal Antibodies: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition provides crucial initial steps of monoclonal antibody generation and characterization with state-of-the art protocols.

Monoclonal antibodies are one of the most exciting developments in biotechnology in recent years; this book provides a comprehensive description of principles, methodologies and applications of this powerful technology to modern science and industry.

The first section of this volume is aimed to provide a comprehensive review of the many varied and often empirically derived techniques and procedures currently in use to produce monoclonal hybridoma cell lines and to characterize the antibodies secreted. The goal has been achieved with the chapter contributed by Zola and Brookes who, as each step in the process of hybridoma production and antibody characterisation is reviewed, have provided an experimental procedure found to be satisfactory in their laboratory.The second section of this volume is designed to provide a review of areas in which monoclonal hybridoma antibodies have been of particular advantage. This is a rapidly advancing field which could not be thoroughly reviewed in a single volume.

This volume provides a complete description of the principles, methodologies and applications of monoclonal antibodies, one of the most exciting developments to occur in biotechnology in recent years, and a powerful technology for modern industry and science. The immune system and the role of the antibody are described and full details are given on how the hybridomas are formed, isolated, and maintained in culture such that the required antibody can be produced to a high degree of purity. The authors describe all the methodologies involved, all the reagents and solutions and all the assay conditions required for their production. The material is presented to enable research and development managers to make choices as to which are the most suitable techniques for their requirements. The book is comprehensively referenced, and will be a necessary resource for all those who are involved with this technology.

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.