Figure 1.

Production of both fully human and humanized mAbs begin in mice and end with hamster cells. Ironically, the multi-step process in generating fully human (left panel) and humanized (right panel) mAbs has little to do with actual human cells. Comparing both panels reveals similarities and differences in producing fully human and humanized mAbs. Note for producing fully human mAbs, the mouse genome is modified by the insertion of the human immunoglobulin locus. In contrast, humanized mAbs are generated in mice with an unmodified genome. In step 1 in both processes, mice are injected with the intended human therapeutic target (e.g., a recombinant protein). In step 2 following the subsequent immune response of the mouse to the human antigen, target specific antibody related DNA was extracted. For humanized mAbs, the sequences defining the hypervariable region (also known as the complementarity determining region [CDR]) are grafted onto a human antibody framework, cloned and engineered for high affinity. In step 3 in both processes, the cloned target specific antibody DNA is expressed as a mAb using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.