[Monoclonal antibody-based design of antitumor drugs: prerequisites and progress]

Abstract

To obtain monoclonal antibodies (MAb) to tumor-specific antigens is a promising line in the design of antitumor drugs since this makes it possible to provide a strictly selective effect on tumor cells. As of now, thousands of MAbs to different human and animal antigens have been obtained; hundreds of them have shown their promising properties in experimental studies, tens have been tested in clinical trials and about 10 MAb have been already permitted for clinical use in oncological care. The N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (RCRC), Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS), is one of few Russian research organizations where the technology of MAb production has been successfully introduced and is applied now. By using this technology, RCRC, RAMS, has designed the drugs Imyteran and ATEMA that may be used to treat tumor and other diseases and at present they are under clinical trials. A great variety of MAbs that can potentially replace expensive imported analogues are pre-clinically designed.