Strategies for the development of monoclonal antibodies for in vivo imaging: their use in the imaging of ovarian carcinoma.

There are a number of strategies that have been used for the development of monoclonal antibodies which recognise tumour associated antigens. These include the use of whole tumour cells or membrane components as the immunogen, and the use of differentiation antigens, for example the human milk fat globule. The monoclonal antibody HMFG-2 was developed using the latter strategy and has been shown to react with a large molecular weight mucin-like molecule which appears to be highly immunogenic in the mouse. The HMFG-2 antibody is proving to be extremely useful in the localisation of ovarian tumours and is being used in a number of clinics. This antibody and its antigen have a number of characteristics which have contributed to its success in imaging ovarian carcinomas, including the repetitive nature of the antigenic epitope and the antibody's affinity.