[Monoclonal antibodies in the diagnosis and therapy of breast carcinoma: current status and future prospects].

Hybridoma technology has now advanced to the point where hundreds of monoclonal antibodies have been produced and are reported to bind to normal and malignant cell surfaces or intracellular organelles. The original hope for tumor-specific antigens has not materialized, but certain antibodies with rather restricted ranges of binding activities have been identified. For the first time, one now has tools other than morphology or the presence of hormone receptors to distinguish between two different tumors, or among different cell populations within a given tumor mass. New techniques including gene cloning and in situ hybridization will undoubtedly provide insights in the field of tumor biology and immunology, and hopefully, will foster developments toward the mechanisms of oncogenesis as well as toward more immediate clinical applications.