New monoclonal antibodies that recognize an unglycosylated, conserved, extracellular region of CD44 in vitro and in vivo, and can block tumorigenesis.

CD44 is a transmembrane glycoprotein that binds to hyaluronic acid, plays roles in a number of cellular processes and is expressed in a variety of cell types. It is up-regulated in stem cells and cancer. Anti-CD44 monoclonal antibodies affect cell motility and aggregation, and repress tumorigenesis and metastasis.

Integrin α-3 ß-1's central role in breast cancer, melanoma and glioblastoma cell aggregation revealed by antibodies with blocking activity.

Breast cancer, melanoma and glioblastoma cells undergo cell-mediated aggregation and aggregate coalescence in a transparent 3D Matrigel environment. Cells from normal tissue and non-tumorigenic cell lines do not exhibit these behaviors. Here, 266 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) demonstrated to interact with a wide variety of membrane, secreted and matrix proteins, have been screened for their capacity to block these tumorigenic cell-specific behaviors in a 3D environment.