bispecific antibody

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an engineered antibody molecule designed to bind simultaneously to two different antigens or two different epitopes on the same antigen, enabling therapeutic functions impossible for conventional monospecific antibodies; the most therapeutically important class of bispecific antibodies in oncology are T-cell engagers — which bind a tumour-associated antigen on cancer cells with one arm and CD3 on T-cells with the other, physically forcing the killer T-cell into contact with the cancer cell and triggering its cytotoxic activity regardless of whether the T-cell's natural receptor recognises the tumour; blinatumomab, a bispecific T-cell engager targeting CD19 and CD3, was approved for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2014 and demonstrated remarkable efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory disease; bispecific antibodies targeting BCMA, FLT3, and other haematological antigens have since expanded the therapeutic arsenal for blood cancers, and solid tumour applications are in active development