immunotherapy

Question 1

what is immunotherapy?

Answer 1

treatment of disease that cause activation or suppression of the immune system

Question 2

what are types of immunotherapies?

Answer 2

• monoclonal antibodies
• non-specific immunotherapy
• cancer vaccines

Question 3

what are monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 3

antibodies made in the laboratory to work in the same way that naturally produced antibodies respond during the adaptive immune response. They can target cancer cells and the cause of autoimmune diseases

Question 4

what are the types of monoclonal antiodies?

Answer 4

• bispecific mAbs

- conjugated mAbs

Question 5

what are bispecific mAbs?

Answer 5

bispecific monoclonal antibodies attach to target cells to signal for an immune response. They are laboratory made with two different antigen binding sites so it can attach to different antigens at one time.
Example:
on specific bispecific mAb binds to a cytotoxic t cell and a cancer cell, ensuring Tc cell comes into direct contact with a cancer cell where it can perform its role in destroying cancerous cells

Question 6

what are conjugated monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 6

antibodies usually combined with chemotherapy drug or cytotoxin or radioactive substances. It can be used to deliver the drug or radioactive substance directly to the cancerous cell, preventing growth and lessening damage to healthy cells in the area

Question 7

what is autoimmune diseas?

Answer 7

malfunction of immune system’s self tolerance so they target self cells.

Question 8

How should we go about treating autoimmune disease?

Answer 8

treatments should only target malfunctioning cells or molecules of the immune system, not the whole system to avoid weakening the immune system so much it allows pathogens to take hold

examples:
- anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibodies used to inhibit cytokines that are involved in abnormal inflammatory response (rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers of colon)
- mAbs inhibit IgE involved in moderate to severe allergic asthma

Question 9

what are some side effects of monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 9

allergic reaction, fever, rash, headaches, vomiting, low blood pressure
example: mAbs can target proteins on cancer cells that are also present on skin cells, causing rash in some people

Question 10

what are the types of monoclonal antibodies and what are they made of?

Answer 10

murine mAbs: made of mouse proteins
chimeric mAbs: mixture of mouse and human proteins
humanised mAbs: mouse proteins added to predominantly human proteins
transgenic mAbs: fully human proteins produced with the use of transgenic mice

Question 11

what was the problem with using murine mAbs and how was this overcome?

Answer 11

mouse mAbs contained proteins that could be considered as non-self and then rejected by humans. Researchers therefore used recombinant DNA techniques to produce chimeric, humanised and transgenic mAbs

Question 12

how are monoclonal antibodies created?

Answer 12

1. Antigen in question is injected into a mouse
2. the adaptive immune response in mice is activated and plasma B cells produce antibodies specific to the antigen
3. B lymphocytes are extracted from mouse’s spleen
4. tumour cell called myeloma is prepared
5. B lymphocytes are combined with myeloma cells to form hybridoma which divides quickly while still being able to produce antibodies
6. hybridoma grows by cloning itself, producing many cells. Those capable of secreting the antibody are selected
7. monoclonal antibodies are collected and purified and then administered into patient