[Use of antibodies or their fragments for the treatment of tumors]. / L'utilisation des anticorps ou de leurs fragments pour le traitement des tumeurs.

ABSTRACT

During the last 15 years, various antibodies specific for antigens associated with determined types of cancer have been used therapeutically, including some in unlabeled forms as immune effectors. The results of clinical studies have been unpromising for patients with colorectal cancer at the advanced metastatic stage but much more favorable in terms of increased survival for the adjuvant situation of residual microscopic disease. Antibodies have also been used as carriers for cytotoxic substances, but with rather disappointing clinical results when they were labeled with toxins or antimitotic agents. The results have been variable for labeling with radionuclides (mainly iodine-131), some-times proving quite favorable for refractory forms of non-hodgkin's lymphomas or acute leukemias. In this last indication, radioimmunotherapy has been associated with chemotherapy to enhance action before a bone-marrow graft. However, the clinical results have been disappointing in the treatment of solid tumors, showing responses only in the case of small targets. In the future, treatment with antibodies will focus on microscopic tumors, in association with other therapeutic modalities especially, chemotherapy and biotherapy.