European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: RECENT ADVANCES

J. Singh* and Deepika

ABSTRACT

Monoclonal antibodies (MABS), the most rapidly growing drug class, are developed to improve quality of life of millions of patients suffering from relapsed/inadequate drug response /drug resistant malignant, autoimmune diseases and rare genetic disorders. They are better than conventional pharmacotherapy in terms of potency, dosing, frequency and specificity for their target antigens. MABs have revolutionized the treatment of various types of cancer, serious bacterial & viral infections, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular and many other conditions generally not responding to conventional treatment. New antibody based therapeutics are under clinical development for treatment of diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration, uveitis, HIV/AIDS, asthma/respiratory disorders and Alzheimar‘s disease. However, their use is associated with some immunogenic, target related and off target adverse effects such as hypersensitivity and these drugs are costly. This review describes therapeutic applications of MABS and their new indications in the treatment of various diseases.

Keywords: Monoclonal antibody, cancer, Rheumatoid arthritis, crohn‘s disease, macular degeneration.