Ofatumumab, a novel humanized monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody, was recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of fludarabine and alemtuzumab refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ofatumumab effectively induces complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) in vitro, and recent studies demonstrated that ofatumumab also effectively mediates antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Pha...

atomic resolution structural information is X-ray crystallography, a technique accounting for 88% of structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank. Unfortunately, this technique requires milligram amounts of purified protein , which has to subsequently be induced to form crystals. Both protein production and crystallization can be difficult tasks particularly for membrane-bound, multidomain and...

PURPOSE Bispecific antibody (bsMAb) pretargeting procedures use divalent hapten-peptides to stabilize the binding of the hapten-peptide on tumor cells by a process known as the affinity enhancement system. The goal of this study was to determine if a divalent hapten-peptide could induce apoptosis by cross-linking bsMAb bound to CD20. METHODS Three forms of bsMAbs were prepared by coupling the...

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune inflammatory condition with a wide spectrum of disease manifestations and severities, resulting in significant morbidity mortality. The aetiopathogenesis SLE complex. Young women certain ethnicities are commonly affected, suggesting hormonal genetic influence. Diverse immunological abnormalities have been described. A characteristic abnormalit...

The recently successful targeting of B cells in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting CD20 has established that it is no longer a question of whether B cells contribute, but how they contribute, to MS disease activity. Here, the focus will be to review results that have emerged over the last few years from clinical trials of different anti-CD20 mAbs ...

We investigated the impact of rhesus macaque (RM) B-cell depletion before inoculation with the isolate SIVsmmD215. Seven RMs were treated every 3 weeks with 50 mg/kg of an anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab) starting 7 days before inoculation for 2 (n = 4) and 5 (n = 3) months. Four control animals received no antibody. Three animals were completely depleted of CD20(+) B cells, but 4 were only parti...

Current B-cell disorder treatments take advantage of dose-intensive chemotherapy regimens and immunotherapy via use of monoclonal antibodies. Unfortunately, they may lead to insufficient tumor distribution of therapeutic agents, and often cause adverse effects on patients. In this contribution, we propose a novel therapeutic approach in which relatively high doses of Hydroxychloroquine and Chlo...