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.
This page is divided into 3 sections to make it easier for you to find the information you are interested it.
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.
Name for monoclonal antibodies are made up of three parts as defined by the World Health Organization.
Target site of antibody | Source of antibody | ||
o(s) |
bone |
u |
human |
vi(r) |
viral |
o |
mouse |
ba(c) |
bacterial |
a |
rat |
li(m) |
immune |
e |
hamster |
le(s) |
infectious lesions |
i |
primate |
ci(r) |
cardiovascular |
xi |
chimeric |
mu(l) |
musculoskeletal |
zu |
humanized |
ki(n) |
interleukin as target |
axo |
rat/murine hybrid |
co(l) |
colonic tumour |
||
me(l) |
melanoma |
||
ma(r) |
mammary tumour |
||
go(t) |
testicular tumour |
||
go(v) |
ovarian tumour |
||
pr(o) |
prostrate tumour |
||
tu(m) |
misc tumour |
||
neu(r) |
nervous system |
||
tox(a) |
toxin as target |
||
fu(ng) |
fungal |
||
For example Rituximab is made up of RI the unique name, TU(m) the target (misc tumour), and XI the source (chimeric) and MAB=monoclonal antibody.
Here is a link to a 2008 article that reviews the status of current monoclonal antibody treatments like Rituxan, Bexxar and Zevalin.
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 engineered to be entirely human by replacing all mouse parts with human. Fully human antibodies are exactly that. They never had mouse parts.
Since Rituximab, Y91 Ibritumomab Tiuxetan (Zevalin) and I131 Tositumomab (Bexxar) have been around a long time you will find studies about those antibodies on their respective pages.
Here are some links to additional resources that will help you to understand Moab's more thoroughly.
Kimball's biology pages explanation of Monoclonal Antibodies