Inthepastdecade,anincreasedamountofclinically-orientedresearchinvolvingimmunotoxinshasbeenpublished.Immunotoxinsareagroupofartificially-madecytotoxicmoleculestargetingcancercells.Thesemoleculescomposedofatargetingmoiety,suchasaligandoranantibody,linkedtotoxinmoiety,whichisatoxinwitheithertruncatedordeletedcell-bindingdomainthatpreventsitfrombindingtonormalcells.Immunotoxinscanbepidedintotwocategories:chemicallyconjugatedimmunotoxinsandrecombinantones.Theimmunotoxinsofthefirstcategoryhaveshownlimitedefficacyinclinicaltrialsinpatientswithhematologicmalignanciesandsolidtumors.Withinthelastfewyears,single-chainimmunotoxinsprovideenhancedtherapeuticefficacyoverconjugatedformsandresultinimprovedantitumoractivity.Inthisreview,webrieflyillustratethedesignoftheimmunotoxinsandtheirapplicationsinclinicaltrials.Cellular&MolecularImmunology.2005;2(2):106-112.
