This book is among the first to combine technical and clinical aspects of the subject. It aims to provide a unique combination of the production (by both cellular and molecular biology techniques), structure and functional characteristics of monoclonal antibodies, together with detailed discussions of the various analytic, diagnostic and therapeutic applications of these antibodies. Many areas of clinical medicine benefit from this type of study including histopathology, oncology, transplantation, infectious diseases, rheumatology, haematology, and dermatology.

1 Introduction 1
2 Production of monoclonal antibodies 9
3 Antigen-antibody interactions: how affinity and kinetics affect assay design and selection procedures 34
4 Production and characterization of synthetic peptide-derived antibodies 60
5 Human monoclonal antibodies: production, use, problems 85
6 Bispecific monoclonal antibodies 121
7 Production of antibodies using phage display libraries 142
8 Genetic manipulation of monoclonal antibodies 166
9 Monoclonal antibodies in diagnostic immunoassays 180
10A Monoclonal antibodies in oncology: diagnostic pathology 209
10B Monoclonal antibodies in oncology: in-vivo targeting for immunoscintigraphy and therapy of human malignancies 222
11A Monoclonal antibodies in infectious disease: diagnosis 247
11B Monoclonal antibodies in infectious disease: prophylaxis and therapy 260
12A Monoclonal antibodies in transplantation: immunohistology 274
12B Experimental studies on in-vivo immunosuppression 292
12C Monoclonal antibodies in transplantation: prophylaxis and treatment of graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation 317
12D Monoclonal antibodies in transplantation: use as therapeutic agents in clinical organ transplantation 340
13 Monoclonal antibodies and the skin 362
14 Monoclonal antibodies in endocrinology 380
15 Monoclonal antibodies in rheumatology 403
16 Technical appendix: monoclonal antibody production methods 429
 Index 467