13 Sep 2021
Setting it Straight: The monoclonal antibody story part 5: humanisation
Very early in this Setting it Straight series (#5) I wrote about passive immunity which, as distinct from the ‘adaptive immunity’ that we prime in our own bodies by vaccination, involves the (generally intravenous, IV) injection of antibodies from another source (#17, #21). That form of passive immunotherapy (treatment) or immunoprophylaxis (prevention) began at the end of the 19th century with the administration of serum from horses that had been immunised to make antibodies (immunoglobulins, Igs) to the toxin produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae.