Cancer therapy by antibody-drug conjugates as a novel therapeutic approach

Background and aim: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a group of cancer therapies to guide cytotoxic drugs towards cell-surface antigen-expressing cells that are detected by antibodies. An ADC has three central structural units, including antibodies, cytotoxic agents and linkers. ADCs can act as a promising therapeutic drug over the parent cytotoxic payload attached to it, owing to the importance of detecting and expressing tumor antigens significantly to internalize and process. Materials and methods: The corresponding articles in English were searched on PubMed database with the aid of main keywords, including ADCs, solid tumors, clinical trials and cancer therapeutics. Results: The multidrug resistance occurs for cytotoxic payload of the ADC like usual chemotherapy drugs, highlighting the approval of ado-trastuzumab emtansine and brentuximab vedotin for clinical purposes, as these two ADCs have attracted further attention of the researchers to deal with cancer therapy with about 120 active clinical trials often evaluating hematological malignancies. We found 52 open phase I/II studies focusing on solid tumors. Moreover, almost 50 unique ADCs are under study, 35 of which regarding solid tumors. More effective and safe ADCs are emerging owing to novel technology of linker related to strong cytotoxic payloads. Conclusion: Elevated cytotoxin potency, advanced innovative linkers, improved target selection and eliminated drug resistance can result in promising success of ADCs. The ADC therapeutics can be raised in the oncology clinic trough expanding register of ADCs under clinical trials.

Cancer therapy by antibody-drug conjugates as a novel therapeutic approach Keywords:

ADCs , solid tumors , clinical trials , cancer therapy