Monoclonal antibodies: Targeted therapy

In an ongoing quest to improve the therapeutic arsenal against cancer, a fourth weapon Intas Biotechnology/Oncology, Plot other than surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy has emerged, i.e. targeted therapy. No. 423/P/A/GIDC, Sarkhej Bavla Targeted therapy includes, tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitors (small molecule inhibitors Highway, Moraiya, Tal: Sanand, Ahmedabad-382 210. India like imatinib, gefitinib, erlotinib), angiogenesis inhibitors (bevacizumab), proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib), biological response modifiers (denileukin diftitox) and Received: 2.2.2006 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). The remarkable specificity of MAbs as targeted therapy Revised: 3.3.2006 makes them promising agents for human therapy. Not only can MAbs be used Accepted: 6.6.2006 therapeutically to protect against disease, they can also be used to diagnose a variety of illnesses, measure serum protein and drug levels, type tissue and blood and identify Correspondence to: infectious agents and specific cells involved in immune response. About a quarter of all Neera Gupta biotech drugs in development are MAbs, and about 30 products are in use or being E-mail: investigated. As a majority of the MAbs are used for the treatment of various [email protected] hematological and nonhematological malignancies, their role in cancer is discussed.