Immunotoxin therapy and chemotherapy in cancer treatment


Immunotoxin therapy continues to be designed to deliver toxins towards the tumor cell to result in cell death. Toxins used are incredibly potent bacterial or plant products. The most typical bacterial toxins include diphtheria toxin and Pseudomonas exotoxin A. Ricin, gelonin, and saponin are plant products.

Just one molecule will kill a cell. In 1999, Denileukin diftitox was the first genetically engineered recombinant DNA-derived cytotoxic fusion protein approved by the FDA for that treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Ontak consists of fragments A- and B- of the diphtheria toxin that are genetically associated with recombinant interleukin-2. It tar-gets cells expressing the IL-2 receptor and directs the cytocidal action of the diphtheria toxin to malignant cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. This inhibits proteinsynthesis and results in cell death.

The recommended dose is 9 or 18 mg/kg/day adminis-tered intravenously over Fifteen minutes for 5 consecutive days every A 3 week period. Ontak is generally well tolerated; however, negative effects include chills, fever, infection, pain, headache, flulike syndrome, dizziness, heart problems, hypotension, tachycardia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and hypoalbuminemia.

Conjugation of mAbs to radioisotopes has both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Satumomab pendetide continues to be approved for diagnostic use in the detection of colorectal and ovarian cancer. Monoclonal antibodies along with radioisotopes are utilized to image and localize tumors and monitor advancement of disease. Serial images assist in identifying tumor sites shown by specific regions of radioactive uptake.

Therapeutically, radioactive isotopes are conjugated for an antibody that is produced to focus on and fix to some specific tumor antigen; the radioactive isotope can then internally irradiate the prospective and adjacent cancer cells. Radioim-munoconjugates for therapy involve higher doses of radiation compared to those employed for radioimmunodetection.

Monoclonal antibodies are also used in in conjunction with cytokines to improve cytotoxic effects. These cytokines include IL-2, interferon, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and TNF.

Cytokines have shown to enhance effector cell-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, which could augment the efficacy of mAbs. Most trials have involved patients with melanoma. Few antitumor responses happen to be observed, except in an effort using mAb R24 against GD3 ganglioside in in conjunction with IL-2, in which 10 of 32 patients had partial responses.

Monoclonal antibodies happen to be used ex vivo to get rid of residual tumor cells in the bone marrow of patients undergoing autologous transplant and also to slow up the incidence of graft-versus-host disease by removing T lymphocytes from donor marrow before allogeneic transplant. Monoclonal antibodies have shown to work in the detection and treatment of both solid tu-mors and hematologic malignancies.

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This article was sent to us by: Norman Howell at 07252011

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