title: Development of antibodies for cancer therapy.
abstract: Antibody therapies have become an important component in the management of malignant disease. Recombinant technology offers enormous opportunities to tailor antibodies to meet clinical requirements. This includes the reduction of immunogenicity and the development of smaller antibody fragments that can be incorporated into fusion proteins. Antibodies can block tumour growth factors or their receptors, activate immunological attack on the tumour, or be used to deliver payloads such as radioisotopes, cytotoxic drugs or toxins. Pretargeting includes streptavidin/biotin systems and antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (ADEPT). ADEPT uses an antibody-enzyme complex to deliver a prodrug-activating enzyme to tumours for selective prodrug conversion at the tumour site. New antibody targets, refined antibodies, antibody fusion proteins, combination therapies and the use of antibodies as adjuvant therapy are important topics in the development of antibody therapy against cancer.
authors.affiliation: Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London (Hampstead Campus), Department of Oncology, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF, UK.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Wilkins
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mayer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry; D001710:Biotin / Q000737:chemistry; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments / Q000737:chemistry; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry; D000922:Immunotoxins / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D016499:Radioimmunotherapy; D019809:Streptavidin / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D007128:Immunoglobulin Fragments; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D000922:Immunotoxins; D001710:Biotin; D019809:Streptavidin