Monoclonal antibody-based therapies in cancer: advances and challenges

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Conventional anticancer drugs lack specificity, causing toxicity to healthy tissues and limiting their effectiveness.
• Antibody-mediated targeting offers a strategy to enhance the therapeutic index of anticancer drugs by directing them to tumor cells.
• Tumor-specific antigens or overexpressed antigens are key targets for this approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review antibody-mediated targeting strategies in cancer therapy.
• To discuss the design considerations for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), immunotoxins (ITs), and immunoliposomes (ILs).
• To provide an overview of approved and investigational antibody-based therapeutics.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of antibody-mediated therapeutic modalities.
• Analysis of design principles for ADCs, ITs, and ILs.
• Compilation of clinical data for approved and developing antibody-based therapies.

Main Results:

• ADCs, ITs, and ILs represent promising approaches for targeted cancer drug delivery.
• Several ADCs, ITs, and ILs are approved or in clinical development, demonstrating therapeutic potential.
• The review details design considerations crucial for the efficacy and safety of these modalities.

Conclusions:

• Antibody-mediated targeting significantly improves the specificity and therapeutic index of anticancer treatments.
• Ongoing research and development are focused on overcoming challenges and advancing next-generation antibody therapeutics.
• The field shows great promise for more effective and less toxic cancer therapies.