Biomedical Engineering Reference
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(b)
(a)
Target cell
Biopharmaceutical
Target
molecule
Biopharmaceutical
Intracellular response
to receptor binding
Examples:
Hormones
Cytokines
Examples:
Macugen (Chapter14)
Enbrel(Chapter 9)
Therapeutic antibodies
Substrate
Enzyme
Product
(c)
Examples:
Tissue plasminogen activator
Some blood factors
Glucocerebrosidase
Figure 4.8
Overview of the mode of action of a biopharmaceutical. Some initiate their therapeutic effect by
binding to a specifi c cell surface receptor, with subsequent signal transduction triggering the initiation of an
intracellular response (e.g. activation of an intracellular enzyme or alteration of gene expression) (a). Other
biopharmaceuticals function by binding to (and thus usually inactivating) a target molecule, perhaps whose
overexpression is causing/exacerbating a medical condition (b). Therapeutic enzymes function by catalysing
the conversion of specifi c target substrate molecule(s) into a product (c)
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