Cancer therapy with engineered monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibody (MAb) therapy has emerged as an increasingly important modality in cancer therapy. Antibody-based therapeutics have shown efficacy alone and as components of effective therapies for an increasing number of human malignancies. Antibodies may mediate anti-tumor effects by employing a variety of effector mechanisms, such as ADCC, but the exact mechanisms of action of many of these clinically active antibodies remain unknown. In this chapter, we review some of the proposed mechanisms as related to the activity of clinically relevant monoclonal antibodies.