What are the main differences between how patients respond to therapeutic antibodies as compared to chemotherapy?
Targeted therapies like therapeutic antibodies mainly affect specific cells since they attach to a particular antigen on the surface of the cell, most often malignant cells. While chemotherapy not only causes injury or death to the cancer cells, it also affects three other types of cells in the body that depend on the rapid growth of new cells to perform their normal function — the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, the skin and scalp (hair follicles), and the bone marrow. The toxicity of chemotherapy and radiation therapy are cumulative and may lead to long-term toxicities and other types of cancers. Adverse events associated with therapeutic antibody therapy are most often infusion-related and can include chills, flu-like fever and respiratory events. Most of the adverse events are reversible with medical intervention, but severe and fatal events have occurred. Additionally, while chemotherapy regimens tend to have immediate effects on cancer and normal cells, responses to therap
