In vitro anti-tumor activity of anti-c-erbB-2 x anti-CD3 epsilon bifunctional monoclonal antibody

Abstract

With the aim of developing an effective cancer immunotherapy for common epithelial cancer, a new class of bifunctional antibody (BFA) was developed; one arm of this BFA recognized c-erbB-2 gene product, and the other arm recognized CD3 epsilon, a T-cell specific surface antigen. Application of this BFA with human peripheral blood lymphocytes exhibited specific anti-tumor activity in vitro on a breast tumor cell line, ZR-75-1, which expressed abundant c-erbB-2 gene product on its cell surface. These results indicate that BFA recognizing an oncogene product on cell surface is a potential new agent for cancer immunotherapy.