Antibodies as therapeutic reagents
The fi rst approved therapeutic murine monoclonal antibody
has been launched in the year 1986 under the trade
name Orthoclone OKT3®, which is being used during
organ transplantations. A number of other antibodies followed,
some of which were chimeric wherein the constant
domains of an antibody were human and the variable domains
were murine under the trade names Remicade® and
Erbitux®, which are being used for the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis and colorectal cancer, respectively. Later,
antibodies were completely humanized as in the case
of Herceptin®, which is being used for the treatment of
breast cancer. In 2002, the fi rst fully human antibody under
the trade name Humira® has been isolated using antibody
phage display which is directed against TNF-α [31–33].