Quality evaluation of internet resources related to breast surgery in major search engines in Korea

Background With the increasing number of internet users, search engines have become a widely used source of health-related information. However, evaluating the quality of medical information obtained through search engines can be challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of search results related to breast implants obtained from major domestic websites in Korea using systematic evaluation standards. Methods Two main primary search terms (“gaseum” [breast] implant and “yubang” [breast] implant), along with 15 adjunct search terms, were combined and searched in Google, Naver, and Daum. The top 20 websites were evaluated and classified according to their type and provider. They were scored using the Korean Medical Association’s Internet Health Information Certification Standards. The proportion of significant websites, their categorical distribution, and the quality of information scores were then compared. Results Google yielded the highest number of appropriate results, with statistical significance. Blogs (36.4%) and news (34.8%) were the most common types of search results, while healthcare provider groups (49.5%) constituted the most common provider subgroup. Only 1.9% of the search results were from public organizations. Google had a significantly higher average quality score (14.04) than Naver (13.22), and Daum (12.45) (P<0.05). Conclusions Although almost half of the search results were provided by medical personnel, their average quality score (13.16) was below the overall average (13.36) and far below the 21 points of the journal/abstract category. The findings highlight the need for healthcare providers to provide high-quality medical information, and for users to develop high-level digital health literacy

Development of Bispecific Antibody for Cancer Immunotherapy: Focus on T Cell Engaging Antibody

In the past few decades, biological drugs and small molecule inhibitors targeting inflammatory cytokines, immune cells, and intracellular kinases have become the standard-of-care to treat autoimmune diseases. Inhibition of TNF, IL-6, IL-17, and IL-23 has revolutionized the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriasis. B cell depletion therapy using anti-CD20 mAbs has shown promising results in patients with neuroinflammatory diseases, and inhibition of B cell survival factors is approved for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. Targeting co-stimulatory molecules expressed on Ag-presenting cells and T cells is also expected to have therapeutic potential in autoimmune diseases by modulating T cell function. Recently, small molecule kinase inhibitors targeting the JAK family, which is responsible for signal transduction from multiple receptors, have garnered great interest in the field of autoimmune and hematologic diseases. However, there are still unmet medical needs in terms of therapeutic efficacy and safety profiles. Emerging therapies aim to induce immune tolerance without compromising immune function, using advanced molecular engineering techniques.11Nsciescopuskciothe

Development of Bispecific Antibody for Cancer Immunotherapy: Focus on T Cell Engaging Antibody

In the era of immunotherapeutic control of cancers, many advances in biotechnology, especially in Ab engineering, have provided multiple new candidates as therapeutic immunooncology modalities. Bispecific Abs (BsAbs) that recognize 2 different antigens in one molecule are promising drug candidates and have inspired an upsurge in research in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Among several BsAbs, T cell engaging BsAb (TCEB), a new class of therapeutic agents designed to simultaneously bind to T cells and tumor cells via tumor cell specific antigens in immunotherapy, is the most promising BsAb. Herein, we are providing an overview of the current status of the development of TCEBs. The diverse formats and characteristics of TCEBs, in addition to the functional mechanisms of BsAbs are discussed. Several aspects of a new TCEB-Blinatumomab-are reviewed, including the current clinical data, challenges of patient treatment, drawbacks regarding toxicities, and resistance of TCEB therapy. Development of the next generation of TCEBs is also discussed in addition to the comparison of TCEB with current chimeric antigen receptor-T therapy.11Nsciescopuskc

BLI-Based Functional Assay in Phage Display Benefits the Development of a PD-L1-Targeting Therapeutic Antibody

The therapeutic functionality of the antibodies from phage display is verified after an initial screening. Several immunological assays such as ELISA, flow cytometry, the western blot, and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay are commonly used; the IgG-format antibody is usually preferred to verify the functionality of antibodies, which need elaborative mammalian expression and purification work. Here, we describe a biolayer interferometry (BLI)-based assay that can evaluate the inhibitory functions of antibodies at an earlier stage of screening. To develop a PD-L1-targeting antibody from phage display, we applied the BLI assay to the initial scFv antibody screening, in addition to common ELISA and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) assays, which showed high advantages and relevance with the in vitro cell-based PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition assay. The same assays for IgG-format antibodies showed high efficiency of the BLI assay in the functional characterization of antibodies, and one candidate selected from the BLI assay resulted in highly efficacious antitumor activity in an in vivo syngeneic mouse study. The BLI assay was also beneficial when searching for antibodies with diverse epitopes. These results demonstrated that the BLI-based inhibition assay is an excellent technique for high-throughput scFv antibody screening in earlier stages and can make phage-display antibody screening more efficient to develop therapeutic candidates

Novel Antibodies Targeting MUC1-C Showed Anti-Metastasis and Growth-Inhibitory Effects on Human Breast Cancer Cells

Mucin1 (MUC1) is aberrantly glycosylated and overexpressed in various cancers, and it plays a crucial role in cancerogenesis. MUC1 is a type I membranous protein composed of &alpha; and &beta; subunits. MUC1-&alpha; can be cleaved in cancers, exposing MUC1-&beta; (MUC1-C). MUC1-C is involved with multiple cancer cellular functions, which makes it an attractive target for cancer treatment. However, its multifunctional mechanisms have not been fully elucidated and there has not been a successful therapeutic development against MUC1-C. Through a phage display process, we isolated the specific antibodies for the extracellular domain of MUC1-C. The relevant full IgG antibodies were produced successfully from mammalian cells and validated for their MUC1-C specificities through ELISA, dual FACS analysis, BLI assay, and confocal image analysis. In the comparison with reference antibody, elected antibodies showed characteristic bindings on target antigens. In the functionality assessment of high-ranking antibodies, SKM1-02, -13, and -20 antibodies highly inhibited invasion by triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and the SKM1-02 showed strong growth inhibition of cancer cells. Our results showed that these MUC1-C specific antibodies will be important tools for the understanding of MUC1 oncogenesis and are also highly effective therapeutic candidates against human breast cancers, especially TNBC cells