sup][3],[24],[25] Other regimens, including a lymphocyte-depleting regimen, which consists of pentostatin and cyclophosphamide, were also found promising in delaying the stimulation of neutralizing anti-
immunotoxin antibodies, thus allowing repetitive
immunotoxin treatments for patients with solid tumors.
Immunotoxins are drugs created by linking an antibody to a portion of bacterial or plant toxin to destroy cells expressing the molecule to which the antibody binds.
Alternatively,
immunotoxins (MoAbs conjugated with powerful cytotoxins such as the plant alkaloid ricin) are employed to selectively kill tumor cells.
A bispecific recombinant
immunotoxin, DT2219, targeting human CD19 and CD22 receptors in a mouse xenograft model of B-cell leukemia/lymphoma.
Vitetta and her colleagues encountered vascular leak syndrome when they began testing
immunotoxins in cancer patients.
Lines with high levels of ricin could be utilized in the production of
immunotoxins (Ghetie and Vitetta, 1994, Vitetta et al.
Sepharose-unbinding ricin E as a source for ricin A chain
immunotoxin.
Isolation of a high-affinity stable single-chain Fv specific for mesothelin from DNA-immunized mice by phage display and construction of a recombinant
immunotoxin with antitumor activity.
At the National Eye Institute in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, an
immunotoxin was developed and employed in the murine PIOL model.
GCR-3888 is an
immunotoxin fusion protein between a murine anti-CD22 disulphide-linked Fv antibody fragment (dsFv) and the Pseudomonas exotoxin PE38, and GCR-8015 is an optimized version of GCR-3888 with increased affinity for CD22.
has assumed worldwide rights to develop and market LMB-9, a recombinant
immunotoxin which was designed as a treatment for a wide variety of cancers.
This
immunotoxin approach, using the body's immune system as a drug courier, is already under study as a cancer therapy (SN: 4/4/87, p.
