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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Isolation and Expansion of Cytotoxic Cytokine-induced Killer T Cells for Cancer Treatment
Published on: January 24, 2020
The use of cytotoxic plant lectins in cancer therapy
1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
As part of their defense mechanism against herbivores or phytophagous insects, many plant tissues contain lectins. Some of these lectins are potent toxins which kill animal cells by arresting protein synthesis. An attractive strategy for developing specifically cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents is to link cell type-specific monoclonal antibodies to potent toxins. The plant protein ricin has emerged as the toxin of choice for such constructs.
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