“How is this different than the action of rituxin, which is a monoclonal antibody which binds to the surface proteins of my lymphocytes and cause them to self-destruct?”
Very similar. Rituxan binds to one specific surface protein. That surface molecule is Rituxan’s target.
This group is suggesting using a certain technology to identify at least three targets for any given cancer and three therapeutic molecules to bind to each one. This is essentially three drugs to kill the cells using three different targets.
The idea is if one drug fails to fully kill all the cancer cells (not all cells may respond - in your case Rituxan may not affect every cancer cell) there are two others and there won’t be any cells that can escape all three.
The breakthrough, if successful, would be the ability to dynamically identify three targets for any given cancer and simultaneously produce molecules that can act as a drug against each target.
Thank you. That makes sense and I am rejoicing over this break through.