title: Immunology proves a great success for treating systemic autoimmune diseases - a perspective on immunopharmacology: IUPHAR Review 23.
abstract: Recent advances in the bioengineering of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have revolutionized the treatment of several immunological and rheumatic diseases. mAbs exhibit high specificity and affinity, and are very effective targeting agents, associated with minimal off-target adverse effects. Of several relevant immunological diseases, rheumatoid arthritis was the condition initially treated with mAbs, with great success. Currently, many immunological disorders are targeted and successfully treated using such novel approaches; these include inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, lupus and psoriasis. Today, the efforts of researchers in basic immunology (with a long history) have borne fruit; bioengineered mAbs are employed in clinical practice. In this brief review, I will describe the current and emerging therapeutic mAbs and molecular targeted agents, and discuss the future of the field, especially from the viewpoint of pharmacology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine and Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishii
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal