Toxins 2011, 3(8), 1004-1019; doi:10.3390/toxins3081004
Review

Monoclonal Antibody Therapies against Anthrax

Zhaochun Chen 1,* email, Mahtab Moayeri 2 email and Robert Purcell 1 email
1 Laboratory of Infectious Diseases National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA 2 Laboratory of Bacterial Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 10 June 2011; in revised form: 6 August 2011 / Accepted: 10 August 2011 / Published: 15 August 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anthrax Toxin)
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Abstract: Anthrax is a highly lethal infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It not only causes natural infection in humans but also poses a great threat as an emerging bioterror agent. The lethality of anthrax is primarily attributed to the two major virulence factors: toxins and capsule. An extensive effort has been made to generate therapeutically useful monoclonal antibodies to each of the virulence components: protective antigen (PA), lethal factor (LF) and edema factor (EF), and the capsule of B. anthracis. This review summarizes the current status of anti-anthrax mAb development and argues for the potential therapeutic advantage of a cocktail of mAbs that recognize different epitopes or different virulence factors.
Keywords: Bacillus anthracis; anti-PA mAbs; anti-LF mAbs; anti-EF mAbs; anti-capsule mAbs; post-exposure treatment of anthrax; a cocktail of mAbs

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Chen, Z.; Moayeri, M.; Purcell, R. Monoclonal Antibody Therapies against Anthrax. Toxins 2011, 3, 1004-1019.

AMA Style

Chen Z, Moayeri M, Purcell R. Monoclonal Antibody Therapies against Anthrax. Toxins. 2011; 3(8):1004-1019.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chen, Zhaochun; Moayeri, Mahtab; Purcell, Robert. 2011. "Monoclonal Antibody Therapies against Anthrax." Toxins 3, no. 8: 1004-1019.

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