An overview of immunotoxins and recent findings

The toxins are useful as tools in basic cell biology and medicine. Thus, immunotoxins are proteins that contain toxin along with a monoclonal antibody or growth factor that bind specifically to target cells. This approach is being used to treat certain types of cancer. Some of the toxins used in the immunotoxins include diphtheria toxin, Pseudomonas exotoxin A and Shiga toxin. The object of this study is increasing our knowledge about the toxins (diphtheria toxin, Pseudomonas exotoxin A) and their interactions with cells both for treatment of disease, and for elucidation of pathways of intracellular transport. The related articles in books and PubMed and Sciencedirect databases were studied, and then basis and essential information report. In vitro studies demonstrated that Immunotoxins can kill tumor cells without harming normal cells. Special Immunotoxins of tumor antigens in various cancers, including melanoma, colorectal carcinoma, breast metastatic carcinoma, lymphoma and different leukemia are used in phases I and II of clinical trials. Also, there are several problems such as immunogenicity, toxicity, difficulty in production, limited half-life and resistance associated with the development of many Immunotoxins in cancer therapy. Immunotoxins are group of biologic agents that they can cause a very effective and specific treatment for the cancers in the future.