Radioimmunotherapy of Cancer PDF

Preface

Radioimmunotherapy is the use of antibodies to deliver radiotherapy to cells bearing antigens to which they bind. This modality possesses the potential to improve cancer therapy by increasing the amount of cytotoxic radiation at tumors while reducing the radiation exposure of normal tissues. The concept of radioimmunotherapy goes back to 1956, when a patient was treated with radioiodinated polyclonal antiserum raised against his own melanoma. The advent of monoclonal antibodies in 1975, based on the work of Kohler and Milstein, launched a large effort to use these reagent monoclonal antibodies to selectively deliver cytotoxic reagents, including radiation to tumors. Despite that large effort, radioimmunotherapeutic products for the treatment of the first indication-non- Hodgkin's lymphoma-are only now close to approval and general availability. Progress in solid tumors is at an earlier stage, but encouraging results are being reported

Despite the extended period of development in radioimmunotherapy over the last 20 or so years, much progress has been made. Some of the many advances include improved tumor antigen selection for antibody specificity, higher-affinity antibodies, protein engineering to create novel forms of antibodies for improved targeting and reduced immunogenicity, choice of radionuclide and linking chemistry, and novel approaches for tumor targeting, such as pretargeting that overcomes the mismatch of short-lived radioactivity with the slow pharmacokinetics of antibody tumor targeting

This book provides a comprehensive set of chapters that detail the state of the field in radioimmunotherapy. Included are chapters reviewing the technology, aspects of tumor architecture affecting radiotherapy delivery, and clinical applications in the various cancer types that have had significant study

We wish to thank all the authors who contributed to the book, as well as Dr. Wil B. Nelp, Professor Emeritus of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Washington, who provided external review of the chapters