OPINION
The use of monoclonal antibodies in autoimmunity treatment
1 Group of structural Organization of T-cell Immunity, Department of Adaptive Immunity Genomics, Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow
2 Department of Molecular Technologies, Institute of Translational Medicine, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow
Correspondence should be addressed: Ekaterina M. Merzlyak
Miklouho-Maclay 16/10, Moscow, 117997; ur.liam@99niretake
Funding: this work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (ID RFMEFI60716X0158).
Recently, monoclonal antibodies (MA) have gained popularity as therapeutic agents for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. These antibodies target proinflammatory cytokines, as well as T and B cells potentially involved in the pathogenesis of such conditions. In the present work we attempt to give a systematic description of available therapeutic MA, highlight their key mechanisms of action and pinpoint their adverse effects. We believe that MA that are capable of recognizing and eliminating pathogenic T- and B-cell clones hold the most promise for medical application as biologics. Detection and identification of autoreactive lymphocyte clones is one of the most serious challenges of contemporary medicine.
Keywords: therapeutic antibody, autoimmunity treatment, autoimmune diseases, monoclonal antibody