Drug Information Q&A Q49. What is an "antibody drug"?
Answer
We prevent diseases by producing antibodies, which are proteins that eliminate foreign substances that are not present in our bodies. Antibody drugs are drugs that use this mechanism to produce antibodies against disease-causing substances, which are then inserted into the body to prevent or treat disease.
Explanation
When foreign substances (antigens) such as pathogens enter the body, our body produces antibodies that bind to the foreign substances and detoxify them. This is called the "antigen-antibody reaction," and is a function of the immune system that is inherent in the human body.
Antibody drugs are drugs that artificially utilize this mechanism. Antibodies are produced against disease-causing substances, and are introduced into the body to eliminate the cause of the disease, thereby preventing or treating it.
Antibody drugs are produced using biotechnology, such as genetic recombination technology. By creating antibodies with a structure similar to that of human antibodies, they can function safely in the human body.
Because one type of antibody acts only on a specific antigen, it is unlikely to act on other tissues or cells that do not have that antigen, and side effects are thought to be minimal. For this reason, antibody drugs are expected to be used worldwide to treat diseases for which effective treatments have not yet been established, such as Alzheimer's disease and autoimmune diseases, as well as cancer, for which drugs have been known to have serious side effects.
Trastuzumab, approved in the United States in 1998, is an antibody drug for breast cancer. It is the first anticancer drug that uses antibodies to pinpoint and attack cancer cells. Among breast cancers, those with high levels of the protein HER-2 have been considered difficult to treat, but trastuzumab binds to HER-2 and attacks cancer cells. In addition, trastuzumab binds to the cancer cells, which are then attacked by immune cells in the human immune system, stopping the cancer cells in their tracks. This drug has opened the way for efficient treatment of breast cancer.
In Japan, the first antibody drug, an anti-rheumatic drug, was approved in 2008.
Rheumatism is a disease that causes pain, swelling, and deformation of joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system, which normally eliminates foreign substances that enter the body, acts on normal cells and causes symptoms.
Antibody drugs for rheumatoid arthritis are believed to act on substances that cause increased immune abnormalities and greatly improve the ability to halt the progression of the disease, something that has been inadequate with conventional anti-rheumatic drugs.
In the future, biotechnological drugs, such as antibody drugs, will be added to the list of drugs that will greatly contribute to the treatment of cancer and other diseases that have been difficult to treat with conventional drugs.
Chart/Column
49｜The Mechanism of Action of Antibody Drugs
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