Scientists Found Novel Monoclonal Antibody for CLL
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one kind of blood cancer. It is the second most common type of leukemia in adults. It is also the most common type of blood cancer in America. According to authentic statistics, it is estimated that 16,060 men and women will be diagnosed with and 4,580 men and women will die of CLL in 2012. Thus CLL is an urgent issue.
Several days ago, researchers claimed that they have identified a humanized monoclonal antibody that can target and directly kills CLL cells. The monoclonal antibody—RG7356 that specifically targeted CD44, which is highly expressed in CLL and was directly toxic to cancer cells, but had little effect on normal B cells. This discovery offers a promising path for people to develop countermeasures.
In the process, they also found the monoclonal antibody induced CLL cells that expressed the protein ZAP-70 to undergo apoptosis or programmed cell death. The protein is expressed in 50 percent of CLL patients who typically have a more aggressive form of the disease than patients do not express the specific protein.
Previous research has shown that CLL cells routinely undergo spontaneous or drug-induced cell death when removed from the body and cultured in the laboratory. They found that CLL cells receive survival signals from surrounding non-tumor cells that are present in the lymph nodes and bone marrow of patients with CLL. One of these survival signals appears to be transmitted through CD44. However, when CD44 is bound by the RG7356 monoclonal antibody, it seems to instead convey a death signal to the leukemia cell.
Based on the finding, scientists are planning to perform clinical trials using this humanized anti-CD44 monoclonal antibody in near future.
Article Link: Scientists Found Novel Monoclonal Antibody for CLL
