Tumour localisation by human monoclonal antibodies

We have derived sets of human monoclonal antibodies by fusing lymphocytes from cancer patients with a human lymphoid line, LICR-LON/HMy2. Two antibodies, LGL1.1D6 and LLU6.3A4, derived from patients with glioma and bronchial carcinoma respectively, were selected for clinical study on the basis of binding patterns in radioimmunoassays with tumour cell lines and localisation of human tumour xenografts. Highly purified monoclonal antibodies were prepared using bulk supernatants from hybridomas grown in serum free medium. After radiolabelling with 131I, 1 mg antibody was injected intravenously into patients with advanced glioma and carcinoma of the bronchus. Good localisation was obtained in five out of eight patients with glioma and five out of seven patients with carcinoma of the bronchus. Despite the technical difficulties inherent in the production of human monoclonal antibodies this study demonstrates their potential for the clinical localisation of solid tumours.