Knowledge atlas of antibody-drug conjugates on CiteSpace and clinical trial visualization analysis

Modeling antibody drug conjugate potential using a granzyme B antibody fusion protein

BACKGROUND

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) constitute a promising class of targeted anti-tumor therapeutics that harness the selectivity of monoclonal antibodies with the potency of cytotoxic drugs. ADC development is best suited to initially screening antibody candidates for desired properties that potentiate target cell cytotoxicity. However, validating and producing an optimally designed ADC requires expertise and resources not readily available to certain laboratories.

RESULTS

In this study, we propose a novel approach to help streamline the identification of potential ADC candidates by utilizing a granzyme B (GrB)-based antibody fusion protein (AFP) for preliminary screening. GrB is a non-immunogenic serine protease expressed by immune effector cells such as CD8 + T cells that induces apoptotic activity and can be leveraged for targeted cell killing.

CONCLUSIONS

Our innovative model allows critical antibody parameters (including target cell binding, internalization, and cytotoxic potential) to be more reliably evaluated in vitro through the creation of an ADC surrogate. Successful incorporation of this AFP could also significantly expand and enhance ADC development pre-clinically, ultimately leading to the accelerated translation of ADC therapies for patients.

Peptide-Drug Conjugates: Design, Chemistry, and Drug Delivery System as a Novel Cancer Theranostic

The emergence of peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) that utilize target-oriented peptide moieties as carriers of cytotoxic payloads, interconnected with various cleavable/noncleavable linkers, resulted in the key-foundation of the new era of targeted therapeutics. They are capable of retaining the integrity of conjugates in the blood circulatory system as well as releasing the drugs at the tumor microenvironment. Other valuable advantages are specificity and selectivity toward targeted-receptors, higher penetration ability, and drug-loading capacity, making them a suitable candidate to play their vital role as promising carrier agents. In this review, we summarized the types of cell-targeting (CTPs) and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) that have broad applications in the advancement of targeted drug-delivery systems (DDS). Moreover, the techniques to overcome the limitations of peptide-chemistry for their extensive implementation to construct the PDCs. Besides this, the diversified breakthrough of linker chemistry, and ample knowledge of various cytotoxic payloads used in PDCs in recent years, as well as the mechanism of action of PDCs was critically discussed. The principal aim is to provide scattered and diversified knowledge in one place and to help researchers understand the pinching knots in the science of PDC development, also their progression toward a bright future for PDCs as novel theranostics in clinical practice.

Branched pegylated linker-auristatin to control hydrophobicity for the production of homogeneous minibody-drug conjugate against HER2-positive breast cancer

Trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla®) was the first antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2013 against a solid tumor, and the first ADC to treat human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer. However, this second generation ADC is burden by several limitations included heterogeneity, limited activity against heterogeneous tumor (regarding antigen expression) and suboptimal tumor penetration. To address this, different development strategies are oriented towards homogeneous conjugation, new drugs, optimized linkers and/or smaller antibody formats. To reach better developed next generation ADCs, a key parameter to consider is the management of the hydrophobicity associated with the linker-drug, increasing with and limiting the drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) of the ADC. Here, an innovative branched pegylated linker was developed, to control the hydrophobicity of the monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) and its cathepsin B-sensitive trigger. This branched pegylated linker-MMAE was then used for the efficient generation of internalizing homogeneous ADC of DAR 8 and minibody-drug conjugate of DAR 4, targeting HER2. Both immunoconjugates were then evaluated in vitro and in vivo on breast cancer models. Interestingly, this study highlighted that the minibody-MMAE conjugate of DAR 4 was the best immunoconjugate regarding in vitro cellular internalization and cytotoxicity, gamma imaging, ex vivo biodistribution profile in mice and efficient reduction of tumor size in vivo. These results are very promising and encourage us to explore further fragment-drug conjugate development.

Saeed H, del Solar V, López-Hernández JE, Michel A, Mathew J, Lewis JS, Contel M. Shifting the Antibody-Drug Conjugate Paradigm: A Trastuzumab-Gold-Based Conjugate Demonstrates High Efficacy against Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Breast Cancer Mouse Model

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) combine the selectivity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with the efficacy of chemotherapeutics to target cancers without toxicity to normal tissue. Clinically, most chemotherapeutic ADCs are based on complex organic molecules, while the conjugation of metallodrugs to mAbs has been overlooked, despite the resurgent interest in metal-based drugs as cancer chemotherapeutics. In 2019, we described the first gold ADCs containing gold-triphenylphosphane fragments as a proof of concept. The ADCs (based on the antibody trastuzumab) were selective and highly active against HER2-positive breast cancer cells. In this study, we developed site-specific ADCs (Thio-1b and Thio-2b) using the cysteine-engineered trastuzumab derivative THIOMAB antibody technology with gold(I)-containing phosphanes and a maleimide-based linker amenable to bioconjugation (1b and 2b). In addition, we developed lysine-directed ADCs with gold payloads based on phosphanes and N-heterocyclic carbenes featuring an activated ester moiety (2c and 5c) with trastuzumab (Tras-2c and Tras-5c) and another anti-HER2 antibody, pertuzumab (Per-2c and Per-5c). Both sets of ADCs demonstrated significant anticancer potency in vitro assays. Based on these results, one ADC (Tras-2c), containing the [Au(PEt3)] fragment present in FDA-approved auranofin, was selected for an in vivo antitumor efficacy study. Immunocompromised mice xenografted with the HER2-positive human cancer cell line SKBR-3 exhibited almost complete tumor reduction and low toxicity with intravenous administration of Tras-2c. With this highly selective targeting system, we demonstrated that a subnanomolar cytotoxicity profile in cells is not required for an impressive antitumor effect in a mouse xenograft model.

Smart chemistry for traceless release of anticancer therapeutics

In the design of delivery strategies for anticancer therapeutics, the controlled release of intact cargo at the destined tumor and metastasis locations is of particular importance. To this end, stimuli-responsive chemical linkers have been extensively investigated owing to their ability to respond to tumor-specific physiological stimuli, such as lowered pH, altered redox conditions, increased radical oxygen species and pathological enzymatic activities. To prevent premature action and off-target effects, anticancer therapeutics are chemically modified to be transiently inactivated, a strategy known as prodrug development. Prodrugs are reactivated upon stimuli-dependent release at the sites of interest. As most drugs and therapeutic proteins have the optimal activity when released from carriers in their native and original forms, traceless release mechanisms are increasingly investigated. In this review, we summarize the chemical toolkit for developing innovative traceless prodrug strategies for stimuli-responsive drug delivery and discuss the applications of these chemical modifications in anticancer treatment including cancer immunotherapy.

A comprehensive overview on antibody-drug conjugates: from the conceptualization to cancer therapy

Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) represent an innovative class of potent anti-cancer compounds that are widely used in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Unlike conventional chemotherapeutic drug-based therapies, that are mainly associated with modest specificity and therapeutic benefit, the three key components that form an ADC (a monoclonal antibody bound to a cytotoxic drug via a chemical linker moiety) achieve remarkable improvement in terms of targeted killing of cancer cells and, while sparing healthy tissues, a reduction in systemic side effects caused by off-tumor toxicity. Based on their beneficial mechanism of action, 15 ADCs have been approved to date by the market approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and/or other international governmental agencies for use in clinical oncology, and hundreds are undergoing evaluation in the preclinical and clinical phases. Here, our aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the key features revolving around ADC therapeutic strategy including their structural and targeting properties, mechanism of action, the role of the tumor microenvironment and review the approved ADCs in clinical oncology, providing discussion regarding their toxicity profile, clinical manifestations and use in novel combination therapies. Finally, we briefly review ADCs in other pathological contexts and provide key information regarding ADC manufacturing and analytical characterization.