TUMOR-SPECIFIC APOPTOSIS INDUCED BY THE HUMAN MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY SC-1 - A NEW THERAPEUTIC APPROACH FOR STOMACH-CANCER

Stomach cancer is one of the most frequently occuring cancers worldwid e with a very poor prognosis, even after complete gastrectomy. We desc ribe here an alternative therapeutical approach using a human monoclon al antibody (SC-1), which was isolated from a patient with diffuse-typ e gastric adenocarcinoma. We demonstrate that the antibody significant ly reduces stomach cancer growth in vivo, by inducing tumor-specific a poptosis and that the antibody, even delivered in high doses, shows no toxic crossreactivity to other organs or tissues. The data presented here show that tumor-specific apoptosis can be induced and they give r ise to the hope that human monoclonal antibodies with biological activ ity might present a completely new type of adjuvant cancer therapy.