Ipilimumab
Ipilimumab, sold under the brand name Yervoy, is a monoclonal antibody medication that works to activate the immune system by targeting CTLA-4, a protein receptor that downregulates the immune system.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) can recognize and destroy cancer cells. However, an inhibitory mechanism interrupts this destruction. Ipilimumab turns off this inhibitory mechanism and boosts the body's immune response against cancer cells.

Ipilimumab was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2011, for the treatment of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. It is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), bladder cancer and metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

The concept of using anti-CTLA4 antibodies to treat cancer was first developed by James P. Allison while he was director of the Cancer Research Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Clinical development of anti-CTLA4 was initiated by Medarex, which was later acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. For his work in developing ipilimumab, Allison was awarded the Lasker Award in 2015. Allison later was the co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Q422248
monoclonal antibody
Concept
Q1059
immune system
Concept
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CTLA-4
MISC
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Cytotoxic T lymphocytes
Concept
Q204711
Food and Drug Administration
Concept
Q180614
melanoma
Concept
Q30612
clinical trial
Concept
Q3658562
non-small cell lung carcinoma
Concept
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small cell lung cancer
Concept
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bladder cancer
Concept
Q181257
prostate cancer
Concept
Q6140731
James P. Allison
PER
Q168756
University of California, Berkeley
LOC
Q266423
Bristol-Myers Squibb
ORG
Q921415
Lasker Award
MEDIA
Q80061
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
EVE
Q2459042
Ipilimumab
Concept
Q2459042
Ipilimumab
Concept
Q2459042
Ipilimumab
Concept
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DATE
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