THERAPEUTIC USE OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: GENERAL ASPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR DRUG DELIVERY

DANIELA QUINTEROS; JOSE M. BERMUDEZ; SOLEDAD RAVETTI; CID ALICIA; ALLEMANDI DANIEL; SANTIAGO D. PALMA

Nanostructures for Drug Delivery. A volume in Micro and Nano Technologies

Elsevier

Año: 2017; p. 807 - 833

Monoclonal antibodies are routinely used in several fields but the great challenge has been their useas therapeutic agents for the treatment of diseases such as breast cancer, leukemia, asthma, maculardegeneration, arthritis, Crohn?s disease, and transplants, among others.Monoclonal antibodies are protein molecules made in the laboratory from hybridoma cells by recombinantDNA technology.Important advances have been made over the past decade to improve some critical points such as safetyand efficacy of the first generation of therapeutic antibodies.This type of molecules presents a significant challenge from the pharmaceutical point of view due totheir characteristics such as molecular size, stability, and solubility. In this chapter we have attemptedto identify the major issues associated with therapeutic approaches, formulating drawbacks and deliveringantibody drugs, particularly focused on the challenges and opportunities that these present forthe future.