Dedication and perseverance are the tools used in the last thirty years to develop and approve antibodies for cancer prevention. Monoclonal antibodies, or “Mabs”, have been the result of medical researchers’ long and laborious hours behind microscopes, hoping to perfect the use of these cancer-fighting cells for doctors all over the world. What their discoveries have done for cancer patients is tremendous, especially since the number of individuals within the United States diagnosed with some form of cancer continue to rise each year. By using Mabs, doctors and medical practitioners will have one more weapon to use against the silent, yet deadly killer known as cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s (AMC) web site explains that monoclonal antibodies were first developed in laboratories using mice with myeloma cells, which is a kind of bone marrow cancer, and mice that produced specific antibodies for those cells. The combination of these two cells, called a hybridoma cell, forces a perpetual factory making antibodies. The antibodies end up being identical clones of the original hybridoma cell, which is why they are called monoclonal antibodies. The problem scientists faced with this phenomenal finding was that human antibodies recognized the mouse-produced antibodies as foreign invaders and attacked them. With hard work and dedication, scientists are continuing to develop ways to integrate human antibodies in lieu of mouse antibodies so cancer patients will be able to use the immunotherapy as a form of treatment.

Today there are two types of Mabs, naked and conjugated. The difference between these two lies in the fact that naked antibodies lack radioactive materials attached to them. Conjugated antibodies, on the other hand, are fused with a chemotherapy drug or other toxin used to fight off cancer cells. In recent years the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several Mabs, both naked and conjugated, for cancer treatments. A list of approved Mabs is available through the ACA’s web site. In 2004 and in 2006, Bevacizumab, a naked antibody, was approved for treating certain types of breast cancers.

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