Technologies

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-death in both men and women in the United States. Despite refinements in platinum-based chemotherapy and several newly approved targeted agents, the median overall survival of patients with advanced, unresectable, non- small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is only 20 months. Current antibody-based therapies directed to targets such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) provide limited clinical benefit to some NSCLC patients. However, these therapies have been effective in a small subset of patients or have been incrementally beneficial to progression-free survival. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are essential if significant advances are to be made in the treatment of NSCLC.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered that CD22, a membrane glycophosphoprotein, is a target for therapeutic intervention in lung and prostate cancer. They have characterized the expression of CD22 in lung cancer including lung cancer cell lines and patient specimen samples and show that an anti-CD22 monoclonal antibody (Hb22.7) originally developed for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma effectively binds lung cancer cells. These antibodies bind to the extracellular domain of CD22 and are internalized, then induce signal transduction processes and display cytotoxicity in lung cancer cell, significant reduction of tumors in xenograft models, inhibit the development of pulmonary metastasis and extend overall survival.

Anti-CD22 monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of lung and prostrate cancers.