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The First Antibody Drug Targets a Cancer-Cell Marker
From How Cancer Treatment Became Personal: From Chemotherapy to Precision Immunotherapy
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Regulatory
The First Antibody Drug Targets a Cancer-Cell Marker
Rituximab was approved for certain B-cell lymphomas, turning the CD20 marker into a treatment target and opening the modern antibody era in oncology.
Unlike chemotherapy, rituximab selected cells carrying a defined surface protein and recruited biological mechanisms to eliminate them. Targeting improved selectivity but did not eliminate toxicity, and cancers could resist treatment by changing the target or surviving through other pathways.
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