Special Issue "Recombinant Immunotoxins"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Itai Benhar
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
Website: http://www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/departments/biotech/members/benhar/benhar.html
E-Mail: benhar@post.tau.ac.il
Interests: monoclonal antibodies; recombinant antibodies; bispecific antibodies; antibody selection strategies; phage display; antibody humanization; targeted phage nanomedicines; antibody based biosensors; analysis of antibody repertoires by next-generation sequencing and proteomic approaches; protease-activated toxins; cytotoxic enzymes

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Stefan Barth
Fraunhofer IME-MB, Forckenbeckstr. 6, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Website: http://www.ime.fraunhofer.de
E-Mail: stefan.barth@ime.fraunhofer.de
Interests: monoclonal antibodies; recombinant antibody formats; phage display; immunization strategies; EBV transformation; antibody selection strategies; humanization strategies; cell surface antigens: CD7, CD25, CD30, CD33, CD38, CD64, C123, c-kit receptor; EGF receptor; cytotoxic enzymes

Dear Colleagues,

Immunotoxins comprise a field in targeted cancer therapeutics. These chimeric proteins are a form of biological guided missiles that combine a disease-specific targeting moiety with a potent effector molecule. The targeting moiety is mostly a monoclonal antibody or a recombinant antibody based fragment that confers target specificity to the immunotoxin. The effector domain is in most cases a potent protein toxin of bacterial or plant origin. Notwithstanding, immunotoxins targeted by non-antibody molecules do exist as well as immunotoxins where the effector domain is derived from a human enzyme including RNAses, proteases or kinases. Following binding to the target cells, the immunotoxin undergoes internalization, intracellular processing and trafficking and eventually causes cell death by either catalytically inhibiting a vital process and/or by activating a cell-death cascade. Over the 25 some years of their evolution, immunotoxins have been engineered to better fit to their purpose, improving on specificity and reducing undesirable properties such as untoward toxicities and immunogenicity. Many immunotoxins have undergone clinical evaluation, some showing promise and progressing to advanced clinical trials. This special issue of “Antibodies” will review recent developments as reported by experts in this exciting field. Covered topics will include target selection, toxin selection, targeting moiety selection and engineering, disease models and preclinical studies, clinical studies as well as adverse effects.

Prof. Dr. Itai Benhar
Prof. Dr. Dr. Stefan Barth
Guest Editors

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibodies is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• pseudomonas exotoxin
• diphtheria toxin
• ricin
• Saporin
• other RIPs
• human enzymes
• RNAses
• immunotoxin targets
• IgGs
• antibody fragments
• non-antibody-based disease models and preclinical studies
• clinical studies
• adverse effects