Monoclonal Antibodies And Their Functional Fragments In Research Diagnosis And Therapy 2 0

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are among the most specialised molecules for the recognition and capture of specific analytes. Hundreds of thousands of mAbs have been generated for a large number of different antigens with increasing affinity and specificity and are available for the most diverse purposes. Many of them have been validated as irreplaceable agents for diagnosis and therapy or as unique reagents for research. Others have been developed using emerging technologies that avoid the need for animal immunisation. This short book strives to gather the perspective view of the various contributing authors and to survey the new strategic assets adopted to generate novel monoclonal antibodies or surrogates, such as Fab, Fab2, ScFv and nanobodies, which have an increasing impact in biomedicine as therapeutic or diagnostic assets in various diseases.

It has been almost 20 years since the discovery by Kohler and Milstein of the technology to produce monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), a discovery that promised revolutionary changes in research, clinical diagnosis and human therapy. From today's perspective, it is fair to conclude that this promise has been realized in two areas of the three. As research tools, MAbs have been invaluable: their ability to selectively bind and localize specific antigens, detect and identify new ligands and their receptors, and agonize and/or antagonize specific molecular interactions continues to provide a useful and enabling technology to basic research endeavors. Similarly, MAbs have demonstrated enormous practical impact as diagnostic tools. Recent advances in clinical diagnostic medicine continue to rely heavily on the use of MAb-based reagents for detecting and localizing antigens of clinical import. In contrast, however, MAbs have not proven to have major impact on human disease therapy. With the single exception of an immunosup pressive MAb against the T-cell antigen, CD3, MAbs have as yet found few meaningful applications as therapeutic agents. During the 1980s, a set of technologies to clone, modify and express genes encoding MAbs was developed. These breakthroughs permitted MAbs to be genetically engineered which consequently gave them the potential to greatly enhance their therapeutic utility as well as significantly expand their research and diagnostic applications. New MAbs, fragments of MAbs, bispecific MAbs, single-chain MAbs, and fusions of MAbs with other gene products became available for study.

The book broadly deals with therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and various relevant topics, including different antibody formats such as Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADC), bispecifics, nanoparticle-based mAbs and HER2+ cancers, immune checkpoint inhibitors and other closely related topics. Each paper was written by leading active research groups in their fields both from academia and industry. The book should be of interest to those scientists and researchers who develop or use biologics, biotherapeutics, biosimilars and biobetters in cancer treatment.

The book deals with therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) broadly, and relevant topics such as challenges and opportunities, next-generation antibody products, Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADC), bispecifics, glycosylation, and T-cell engagers are covered. Each topic has been written by leading groups around the world and the book should be of interest to researchers from both academia and industry.

The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) petitioned the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on April 23, 1997, to prohibit the use of animals in the production of mAb. On September 18, 1997, NIH declined to prohibit the use of mice in mAb production, stating that "the ascites method of mAb production is scientifically appropriate for some research projects and cannot be replaced." On March 26, 1998, AAVS submitted a second petition, stating that "NIH failed to provide valid scientific reasons for not supporting a proposed ban." The office of the NIH director asked the National Research Council to conduct a study of methods of producing mAb. In response to that request, the Research Council appointed the Committee on Methods of Producing Monoclonal Antibodies, to act on behalf of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the Commission on Life Sciences, to conduct the study. The 11 expert members of the committee had extensive experience in biomedical research, laboratory animal medicine, animal welfare, pain research, and patient advocacy (Appendix B). The committee was asked to determine whether there was a scientific necessity for the mouse ascites method; if so, whether the method caused pain or distress; and, if so, what could be done to minimize the pain or distress. The committee was also asked to comment on available in vitro methods; to suggest what acceptable scientific rationale, if any, there was for using the mouse ascites method; and to identify regulatory requirements for the continued use of the mouse ascites method. The committee held an open data-gathering meeting during which its members summarized data bearing on those questions. A 1-day workshop (Appendix A) was attended by 34 participants, 14 of whom made formal presentations. A second meeting was held to finalize the report. The present report was written on the basis of information in the literature and information presented at the meeting and the workshop.

This book provides a detailed description of all kinds of therapeutic antibodies including IgGs, IgAs, IgEs, and IgMs, bispecific antibodies, chimeric antigen receptor antibodies, and antibody fragments. Details about how each of these antibodies interact with their ligands, the immune system, and their targets are provided. Additionally, this book delves into the details of antibody, Fc, and variable chain structures, and how subtle changes in structure, charge, flexibility, post-translational modification, and the ability to bind to natural antibody ligands can result in a significant impact on antibody activity and functionality. Finally, the book explains the critical quality attributes of modern therapeutic antibodies and how to ensure that antibodies entering development have the best possible chance of success.