What are antibodies?

Antibodies are a specialised class of proteins also known as immunoglobulins.  They are made by human immune cells to attack and clear the body of disease agents including cancer cells, bacteria and viruses.

The body makes several different types of antibodies including IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM.  Each type of antibody plays a different role in human immunity, and help direct the appropriate immune response for each different type of foreign object they encounter.

Natural Human Antibodies to Cancer : The IgM Story

All humans generate abnormal or precancerous cells on a regular basis.  That said, only a very small percentage of the general population develops cancer.  This is due to the well-validated fact that in healthy humans the immune system constantly generates potent antibodies that seek out and kill abnormal or precancerous cells before large tumours are formed.  In contrast, the elderly, who often suffer from compromised immunity, have a significantly higher rate of cancer compared to other segments of the population.

It is equally clear, as reported by multiple independent laboratories, that over 99% of the anti-cancer antibodies generated by the human immune system are of the IgM subclass.

And as one would suspect, after millions of years of selective pressure and evolution, those IgM antibodies possess certain unique anti-cancer attributes including, but not exclusively:

• High avidity - IgM antibodies can bind to multiple copies of given target on a cancer cell surface, leading to cross-linking and more effective cell killing.

• Broad applications - IgM molecules typically target conserved structures, so the "targets" for IgM antibodies are less likely to undergo changes as a cancer grows and spreads – therefore, a single IgM could potentially target all stages of solid tumours and metastases.

• Safety - Because these antibodies are systematically generated by the human immune system, they typically target only diseased tissues while ignoring healthy tissues, that combined with completely human composition, provides a safe profile for IgM molecules as therapeutics.

• Enhanced tumour cytotoxicity - IgMs have been shown to be superior mediators of complement dependent cytotoxicity, an important effector function when fighting diseases such as cancer.

It is also important to note that the method by which natural human antibodies kill cancer is completely different than any products on the market - the antibodies bind to new targets on cancer cells that have yet to be discovered using other technologies.  That is, these natural human antibodies offer completely new mechanisms and alternatives in the fight against cancer.

The combination of effectiveness/potency, safety, and new mechanisms for killing cancer provides a very promising profile for the therapeutic use of natural human antibodies for cancer.

The promise of natural human antibody based therapeutics has been well documented by third party literature - however, their advanced development has been substantially hampered by the lack of technologies that allowed for the effective large scale production and purification of natural human antibodies - particularly of the IgM isotype.

Patrys has overcome this traditional hurdle by becoming the first in the industry with the ability to effectively manufacture and produce natural human IgM molecules at a commercial scale.