The potential of antibodies as "magic bullets" for cancer therapy has been appreciated for nearly a century. During the past 25 years, various scientific developments have made possible the production of unlimited quantities of clinical-grade murine, chimeric, and humanized monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs). Intact, unconjugated MoAbs may: [1] produce anticancer effects through the immune system on the basis of interactions between the Fc portion of antibody and complement proteins and/or effector cells; [2] induce regulatory effects by neutralizing circulating ligands or blocking cell membrane receptors, thereby interfering with ligand/receptor interactions and signal transduction; [3] serve as immunogens for anti-cancer vaccines through the anti-idiotype-network cascade. Conjugated MoAbs can serve as carriers of other agents such as radioisotopes, natural toxins, chemotherapy drugs, cytokines, and immune cells. Important aspects of the antigenic target are the degree to which it is tumor-specific or tumor-associated, whether it internalizes or not, whether it is shed, the density of expression, and the physiologic significance of the antigen to the target cell. The clinical foundation for antibody-mediated therapy was laid in the 1980s when investigators established the safety of antibody administration, defined certain predictable antibody-mediated toxicities, and confirmed that antibodies could reach tumor targets and produce antitumor effects. A major limitation of these early mouse monoclonal antibodies was overcome with the production of antibodies with varying degrees of humanization. In 1997 rituximab (Rituxan), a mouse-human chimeric anti-CD20, became the first MoAb approved by regulatory agencies for the treatment of a human malignancy.

Measurement of several urinary metabolites of hydroxylysine indicates that considerable collagen degradation occurred in four individuals immediately after they had inhaled concentrated ammonia vapors. Since clinical and/or radiological evidence of intense upper respiratory and pulmonary inflammation were evident, it is likely that collagen degradation occurred at the level of the respiratory system.

Even with the advancement of radiologic techniques, metastatic cancers can still be difficult to detect. In this study, 48 patients suspected of having occult metastases were studied by radioimmunodetection following the administration of 92.5 to 181.3 MBq of indium 111-labeled monoclonal anticarcinoembryonic antigen antibody. All but seven patients were thought to have metastatic colorectal carcinoma. In the majority of cases, physical examinations and computed tomographic scans had failed to detect a lesion. At least one lesion that was later proved to exist was detected in 34 of the 50 studies performed on these patients. Seven of eight patients with normal radioimmunodetection scans remain free of disease. One hundred one sites were detected overall; 60 were considered true-positive sites and 27 false-positive sites. Fourteen sites remained in question. Nineteen false-negative sites occurred. Radioimmunoimaging appears valuable for the detection of occult cancer where standard, noninterventional techniques have failed to detect the suspected disease.

The metabolism of ¹²⁵I-thyroxine by pineal tissue slices was investigated. Free thyroxine accounted for only part of the radioactivity in the supernatant of incubated tissues. Evidence for deiodination of thyroxine was obtained by means of paper chromatography of the supernatant material. Cell fractionation revealed that roughly ²/₃ of the ¹²⁵I label was concentrated in the nuclear fraction, with most of the remainder residing in the final supernatant. The presence or absence of unlabelled thyroxine in the incubation medium appeared to be without effect on the efflux of labelled thyroxine derivative.