Development of Therapeutic Antibodies Against Carbonic Anhydrases

Antibodies and their derivatives are used as immunotherapeutic substances for the treatment of different diseases by stimulating or suppressing certain components of the immune system or directly affecting the target. Treatment of allergies, autoimmune conditions, and various types of cancers are the main trends of antibody-based immunotherapy. Selection of an appropriate antigen target is one of the most important concerns to employ antibodies for therapy. Cell surface localization, importance to disease mechanism, and different expression levels in normal or abnormal cells and tissues are essential requirements for target antigens. Two membrane-associated carbonic anhydrases IX and XII (CA IX and CA XII), with their catalytic active center directed to extracellular milieu, are highly overexpressed in many types of cancers, which makes them promising cancer antigens for antibody-directed therapy. While antibodies recognizing CA XII are in the early stage of development and adaptation for cancer treatment, a few antibodies against CA IX are well characterized and chimeric form of mouse monoclonal antibody is being evaluated as an immunotherapeutic agent for kidney cancer. In this chapter, we focus on potential immunotherapeutic antibodies and their derivatives targeting carbonic anhydrases.