Development of novel therapy for malignant mesothelioma by controllingADCC activity.

恶性胸膜间皮瘤(MPM)患者大多有接触致癌石棉纤维的病史，本病潜伏期长达40年以上。因此，现在患者的数量仍在增加。西妥昔单抗是一种针对EGFR胞外区的人-鼠嵌合抗体，已被证明对结直肠癌和头颈癌有显着的疗效。然而，没有发表的体外或体内研究集中在西妥昔单抗抗MPM的作用上。在本研究中，我们发现西妥昔单抗具有很强的抗MPM的抗肿瘤活性，并结合增强其免疫功能、抗体依赖性细胞毒(ADCC)的活性。我们的数据表明ADCC活性在西妥昔单抗作用机制中的重要作用，并强调了西妥昔单抗作为一类新的治疗药物用于治疗MPM的前景。

Most patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) have a history of exposure to carcinogenic asbestos fibers, and the latent period of this disease is more than 40 years. Therefore, the numbers of the patients are now still increasing. Cetuximab is a chimeric mouse-human antibody directed against the extracellular domain of EGFRand has been shown remarkable effects for colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. However, no published in vitro or in vivo studies have focused on the effect of cetuximab against MPM. In the present study, we found that cetuximab has potent anti-tumor activity against MPM in combination with the methods to enhance its immunological function, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activity. Our data indicate the important role of ADCC activity in the mechanism of action of cetuximab and underscore the promising potential of cetuximab as a new class of therapeutic agent for use against MPM.