Monoclonal Antibodies In Hematology

In the present era of targeted therapy, monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are result of the idea of a “magic bullet” which was first proposed by Paul Ehrlich, who, at the beginning of the 20th century, postulated that, if a compound could be made that selectively targeted a disease-causing organism, then a toxin for that organism could be delivered along with the agent of selectivity. Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are monospecific antibodies produced by a single clone of cells against a specific target antigen. With advent of recombinant technology, mouse-human chimeric and fully human mAb have been synthesized, thereby improving the efficacy and safety of these agents. These mAb can be classified as mouse, chimeric (human-mouse), humanized and fully human depending on their structure. As in other fields of medicine, mAb have proven their efficacy in various malignant and benign hematologic disorders. In this review we are going to focus mainly on therapeutic uses of commonly used mAb in hematologic diseases.