Monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for leukemia.

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent a unique class of therapeutics because of their exquisite antigen specificity and effector mechanisms. Clinically, antibody-based therapy has increasingly become an established modality for the treatment of cancer. Among the nine mAbs and immunoconjugates approved by the FDA for therapeutic indications in oncological diseases, five are for use in hematological malignancies. Alemtuzumab is approved for B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia; rituximab, an anti-CD20 antibody approved for the treatment of B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is being tested in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia; and gemtuzumab ozogamicin is marketed for relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia in patients of > 60 years of age. A number of other mAbs are in different stages of clinical development for antileukemia therapy. This article discusses the general aspects and mechanisms of action of therapeutic mAbs, and highlights the development of antibody-based therapies in leukemia.

• Authors: Yiwen Li, Zhenping Zhu
• Journal: Expert opinion on biological therapy (Expert Opin Biol Ther) Vol. 7 Issue 3 Pg. 319-30 (Mar 2007) ISSN: 1744-7682 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 17309324 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Angiogenesis Inhibitors
• Antibodies, Monoclonal

Topics

• Acute Disease
• Angiogenesis Inhibitors (therapeutic use)
• Antibodies, Monoclonal (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell (drug therapy)
• Leukemia, Myeloid (drug therapy)