Antibody–drug conjugates come of age in oncology
- Study type
- Review article
- Design
- Review
- Source
- Nat Rev Drug Discov · 2023
In plain words
Antibody-drug conjugates are medicines that join an antibody, which recognises cancer cells, to a very powerful drug so that more of the drug reaches the tumour. This approach can reduce side effects. This review shows that these drugs are being used more widely and tested in more cancers, but their side effects are still an important challenge. Decisions about using these drugs should be made with your own doctor.
Study population
Narrative review; no specific patients were enrolled.
Endpoints
This is a review and has no defined endpoint. Its themes are the advances and challenges in developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer treatment.
Safety and side effects
According to the abstract, toxicity remains one of the key issues in developing these drugs, and better understanding and management of ADC-related toxicities is essential for further optimisation. No numerical adverse-event data are reported in the abstract.
Clinical significance and place in guidelines
This is a review and does not directly issue new clinical recommendations. According to the abstract, ADCs are moving into first-line and combination treatment, and more of them have been approved or are in late-phase trials. Which ADC is recommended for which cancer and at which point in treatment should be determined by checking drug approvals and current clinical guidelines. The abstract emphasises the importance of managing ADC-related toxicities.
Limitations
This paper is a review and presents no new primary data. The abstract does not describe how studies were searched for or selected. Predictions about future technologies (new carrier protein formats and payloads targeting the tumour microenvironment) still need clinical proof. Some of the authors are affiliated with industry.
This summary was prepared by the editorial team from the published paper; the original paper is the final reference. Read the original abstract on PubMed.