A researcher who has been experimenting with monoclonal antibodies as a tool for fighting cancer for almost two decades says she has developed a form of the cloned immune system component that could play a role in treating breast, ovarian and other forms of cancer.
Anne Kellogg, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine, says a monoclonal antibody her team has developed, dubbed DS-6, has shown an ability to attach itself of cancer cells in the lab. This could pave the way for using DS-6 antibodies to deliver potent cancer-killing agents to the malignant cells.
Particular types of monoclonal antibodies can act with great specificity because they are all cloned from the same immune system cell. The antibodies work by attaching themselves to a specific antigen, a protein structure on the cell membrane. This anti-body-antigen interaction sets up disease pathogens for attack by other immune system cells.
The DS-6 antibody Kellogg has developed latches on to tumor cells and enables the whole compound - the antibody and the attached cell-killing agent - to enter the cancer cell. Once inside, the cell-killing agent becomes activated and kills the tumor cell as it divides.
"We can't give such a potent chemotherapy agent on its own because it would be too toxic, but if we can link it to an antibody, it goes inside the tumor cell and is released inside the tumor cell, which is really an amazing feat," Kellogg said.
Kellogg first began working with monoclonal antibodies in the early 1990s.
Kellogg is now working with two drug firms - ImmunoGen and sanofi-aventis - that have expertise in turning monoclonal antibodies into cancer therapies and taking them to clinical trials in humans. These clinical tests must show a proposed drug or other form of treatment are safe and effective before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will authorize their use by doctors in treating patients.
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