What does it mean when a therapeutic antibody is referred to as aked or unlabeled?
The term ‘naked’ or ‘unlabeled’ is used when a therapeutic antibody is not a carrier of substances such as toxins or radiation. Sometimes naked or unlabeled antibodies are used because they attach themselves to specific antigens on cancer cells, marking the cancer cell for destruction by the immune system. Other naked or unlabeled therapeutic antibodies are used because they attach to certain sites, called receptors, on cancer cells where they signal cancer cells to die (apoptosis) or they can work by blocking other molecules that stimulate the cancer cells’ growth from binding to the cancer cell. Blocking the other molecules from attaching there is how therapeutic antibodies prevent rapid growth of the cancer cells. Naked or unlabeled antibodies also can be used with other therapies such as chemotherapy.
