title: A novel human antitumor dimeric immunoRNase.
abstract: We report on the construction, production, and characterization of a new fully human dimeric immunoRNase, obtained by fusion of Erbicin, a human anti-ErbB2 single-chain antibody fragment (scFv), with a dimeric mutant of human pancreatic RNase (HHP2-RNase). This novel immunoagent with 2 scFv moieties each fused to 1 of the 2 subunits of the dimeric RNase, called ERB-HHP2-RNase, has shown improved biologic properties with respect to the previously reported monomeric ERB-hRNase immunoRNase: it selectively binds ErbB2-positive cancer cells with an increased avidity; it is not inhibited by the cytosolic ribonuclease inhibitor; it is endowed with a more powerful cytotoxic activity.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Strutturale e Funzionale, Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riccio
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borriello
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Alessio
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Lorenzo
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019281:Dimerization; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000276:immunology; D007167:Immunotherapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010179:Pancreas / Q000201:enzymology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D012260:Ribonucleases