Monoclonal antibodies
There are many Monoclonal Antibody treatments available either commercially
or in clinical trials. And the list is growing rapidly. They are one of the most
exciting and promising areas of research. Throughout this site, we will often
use the short form MoAbs or MAB's to mean Monoclonal Antibody.
As you research treatment options you will find many new drugs with have names
that end with MAB. In nearly all cases that means the drug is a Monoclonal
Antibody treatment. In fact the two letters before the MAB indicate what kind of
antibody it is. The choices are:
xi = chimeric (part mouse part human)
mo = murine (entirely mouse)
zu = humanized (entirely human)
Note: There are several primatized (from a monkey) monoclonal antibodies in the
works such as Galiximab and Lumiliximab; both from Biogen-IDEC. So far they both
use xi as the prefix.
The link below takes you to thorough discussion of the history of antibody
therapies, how they being used for cancer treatment, how they are being combined
with other cytotoxic substances to improve their effectiveness and their future
prospects.
Targeted
Therapy of Cancer: new prospects for antibodies and immunoconjugates
Here is a link to a 2008 article that reviews the status of current
monoclonal antibody treatments like Rituxan, Bexxar and Zevalin.
Recent therapeutic advances in hematological malignancies: the role of targeted
therapies in lymphoma
Here is a list of some of the most common ones to day. Where appropriate the
brand name appears in brackets.
As the name suggests these treatments all use antibodies to fight cancer. The
antibodies come from a variety of sources, but mouse (or Chinese hamster)
antibodies are a common source. Moab's called "murine" are made entirely from
the mouse antibodies. When you see that it is a Chimeric antibody that
means that a portion of a mouse antibody has been replaced with a human part so
that the body will not reject it as quickly. Humanized antibodies are entirely
human.
Some of them are being used in Stem Cell Transplant protocols to dramatically
improve the long term survival.
Click here to
read about some of these protocols
Here is the "antibodies for dummies" explanation of how they work. Suppose you
take some human lymphoma cells and inject them into a mouse. What do you suppose
happens? Obviously the mouse's immune system mounts an attack against this
horribly foreign tissue. It looks for a target (protein) on this tissue that is
unique and unlike any other protein the mouse normally has. Then it starts
producing antibodies against that target. Voila, you now have a new antibody
that is specifically directed against the human lymphoma cell. All you have to
do now is inject that antibody into a human and it immediately starts attacking
the human lymphoma cells. Sometimes the antibody can kill the lymphoma cells
directly or sometimes is sends out a signal to the immune system to come and
kill the lymphoma cell. Either way you have a highly specific response that
kills only lymphoma cells. Put a few of those antibody cells in a test
tube and start culturing them until you have large batches of it and you now
have an effective lymphoma treatment.
Well of course that explanation is grossly oversimplified and the scientists who
spent decades developing the perfect technique for manufacturing these
treatments would be horrified but it is close enough for our non-scientific
purposes. If you want a more scientifically correct explanation click the
links below for more information.
Other information
Here are some links to additional resources that will help you to understand
Moab's more thoroughly.
Kimball's biology pages have information about all things in biology. Here is
their very good explanation of MoAbs
Kimball's biology pages explanation of Monoclonal Antibodies
The Oncologist on-line explanation
http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/5/5/376
Here is a series of articles from
Bloodline about radioimmunotherapy using radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies.
Monoclonal
Antibody Therapy in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: An Overview
Presenter: Brian K. Link, MD
Radioimmunotherapy Agents: What They Are and How They Work
Presenter: Gregory A. Wiseman, MD
Early Clinical
Experience with Yttrium-Labelled Radioimmunotherapy in Patients with Low-Grade
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Presenter: Leo I. Gordon, MD
Radioimmunotherapy in Patients with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Refractory to
Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy
Presenter: Thomas E. Witzig, MD
Radioimmunotherapy in Hematologic Malignancies: Future Directions
Presenter: Bruce D. Cheson, MD
Panel Discussion/Q&A
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