Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Active immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy that aims to stimulate the host's immune system or a specific immune response to a disease or pathogen and is most commonly used in cancer treatments. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Active immunotherapy is also used for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders , such as Alzheimer's disease , Parkinson's disease ...
The drug being trialled was a monoclonal antibody called ipilimumab, then under development at BMS with Axel Hoos as the medical lead. The drug targeted an immune checkpoint called CTLA-4, known as a key negative regulator of T cell activity. By blocking CTLA-4, ipilimumab was designed to potentiate antitumor T-cell responses.
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system.Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies.
To create an immune response, a foreign molecule must be present that antibodies can bind to (i.e. the antigen) and cellular damage must exist. Very often, drugs will not be immunogenic because they are too small to induce immune response. However, a drug can cause an immune response if the drug binds a larger molecule.
Therefore, immune cells can recognize the surface antigens on the tumor cells to elicit immune responses. Examples of drugs that exploit such a mechanism include pembrolizumab and telimomab . Apart from directing the inhibitory pathways, agonistic antibodies can target immunostimulatory receptors to elicit immune responses.
The advantage of active monoclonal antibody therapy is the fact that the immune system will produce antibodies long-term, with only a short-term drug administration to induce this response. However, the immune response to certain antigens may be inadequate, especially in the elderly.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Tolerogenic therapy aims to induce immune tolerance where there is pathological or undesirable activation of the normal immune response.This can occur, for example, when an allogeneic transplantation patient develops an immune reaction to donor antigens, or when the body responds inappropriately to self antigens implicated in autoimmune diseases. [1]