Cytotoxic Auristatin-Affibody Conjugates That Target HER2-Positive Cancer Cells

摘要

Development of efficient and safe cancer therapy is one of the major challenges of modern medicine. Targeted therapy is a newer type of cancer treatment that employs biologically active drugs attached to monoclonal antibodies (or other ligands) through chemical linkers containing either labile or stable bonds. This antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) strategy allows to use highly toxic substances that specifically target tumor cells, therefore healthy tissues remain largely unaffected. Over the last few years antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have become a powerful tool in cancer treatment with two of them, Adcetris~R (brentuximab vedotin, Seattle Genetics) and Kadcyla~R (ado-trastuzumab emtansine), having recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).