In recent years, the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of radioisotopes have shown significant progress. Immunoglobulin (Ig) appears to be a promising tracer, particularly due to its ability to target selected antigens. The main objective of this study is to optimize and assess an Ig radiolabeling method with Technetium 99m (99mTc), an attractive radioelement used widely for diagnostic imaging. M...

This study evaluated rituximab-conjugated, doxorubicin-loaded microbubbles (RDMs) in combination with ultrasound as molecular imaging agents for early diagnosis of B cell lymphomas, and as a targeted drug delivery system. Rituximab, a monoclonal CD20 antibody, was attached to the surfaces of doxorubicin-loaded microbubbles. RDM binding to B cell lymphoma cells was assessed using immunofluoresce...

In vivo ablation of malignant B cells can be achieved using antibodies directed against the CD20 antigen. Fine specificity differences among CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are assumed not to be a factor in determining their efficacy because evidence from antibody-blocking studies indicates limited epitope diversity with only 2 overlapping extracellular CD20 epitopes. However, in this report ...

Rituximab is a monocloncal antibody that binds specifically to CD20, an antigen expressed on the surface of mature and immature B lymphocytes. The binding of rituximab to CD20 results in cell lysis via the recruitment of immune effector functions; it has also been demonstrated to induce cell death via apoptosis. Rituximab (Mabthera®) is licensed in the UK for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin’s lymp...

Rituximab is a human/murine chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody used to treat CD20-positive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Although most of the adverse effects associated with rituximab are usually reversible and temporary infusion-related reactions, including fever, chills, flushing and skin reactions, there are several reports of pulmonary events after long-term administration of rit...

Combination immunotherapy with anti-CD20 and anti-CD22 mAbs shows promising activity in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Therefore, bispecific mAbs (bsAbs) were recombinantly constructed from veltuzumab (humanized anti-CD20) and epratuzumab (humanized anti-CD22) and evaluated in vitro and in vivo. While none of the parental mAbs alone or mixed had notable antiproliferative activity against Burkitt lymphom...

To generate industrially applicable new host cell lines for antibody production with optimizing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) we disrupted both FUT8 alleles in a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)/DG44 cell line by sequential homologous recombination. FUT8 encodes an alpha-1,6-fucosyltransferase that catalyzes the transfer of fucose from GDP-fucose to N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) in ...

The introduction of targeted therapy against CD20(+) with the monoclonal antibody rituximab has dramatically improved the survival of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma. Unfortunately, CLL remains incurable with chemoimmunotherapy, with many patients having refractory or relapsing disease after rituximab-containing therapy. Obinut...

Cloning the correct genes that code for antibody-variable domains from hybridomas is often complicated by the presence of several immunoglobulin transcripts, some of them arising from a myeloma cell line. For the rapid functional evaluation of recombinant antibody fragments against cell-surface antigens, we established an efficient expression and screening system using phagemid antibodies and f...

CD20 is an attractive therapeutic target given the success of its monoclonal antibody, Rituximab, in the treatment of B-cell malignancies and B-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Treatment with Rituximab causes a rapid depletion of B cells and a decrease in disease symptoms. Despite the clinical efficiency of Rituximab, its mechanism of action is not completely understood. In this study, we aim...