Chemical Construction of Immunotoxins

Immunotoxins (ITs) are chimeric proteins consisting of an antibody linked to a toxin. The antibody confers specificity (ability to recognize and react with the target), whereas the toxin confers cytotoxicity (ability to kill the target) (1 –3 ). ITs have been used in both mice and humans to eliminate tumor cells, autoimmune cells, and virus-infected cells (4 –6 .