• Recent Advances in Drug-Antibody Conjugates: Innovations and Clinical Implications
  • Afsaneh Farjami,1,*
    1. Pharmacy Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: For better targeting and the process of cytotoxic collectives at the tumor site, the concept of Drug Antibody Conjugates or DACs was introduced as the core of Targeted Cancer Therapy. This approach is meant to improve the treatment efficacy as well as to reduce the toxicity at the system level, which are the main drawbacks of the traditional chemotherapy. The development that has occurred in this area in the recent past has enhanced the development of this technology and it has been applied in other areas than oncology including autoimmune diseases and infective diseases. This study tries to cover the advancements in DACs in the past two years and these are the new techniques in DACs, new targeting strategy, and data on the efficacy and safety of DACs.
  • Methods: The articles were searched from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases according to systematic criteria. From the articles, some of the keywords that were used in the search included drug-antibody conjugates, targeted therapy, linker technology, payload optimization, and clinical trial. The articles were also searched based on the time published starting from the last five years in order to capture the most current and potent literature. Furthermore, to give an overview of the recent advances in the field, references from the selected articles were checked to find related studies that have been made. In order to achieve the objective of the present paper, a review of the literature published in the last decade was performed with emphasis on peer-reviewed journal articles clinical trials, and new advancements in the field of DAC development. These include the linker technology and payload optimization, target identification and selection, clinical relevance, and risk assessment.
  • Results: There have been new linker technologies deployed in other researches recently that increases the sturdiness and the discharge of poisonous substances within the preferred cell. For instance, cleavable linkers that are sensitive to conditions in the tumour micro-environment that are characteristic of tumors have been found to release the drugs with greater efficiency. Furthermore, improvement in the carriers and payloads such as novel chemotherapeutic agents and immunomodulatory agents have enhanced the therapeutic ratio of the drug delivery system and minimized the toxicity. A number of DACs are at different stages of their clinical cycles and a few of them have been authorised by the regulatory authorities based on the preclinical studies. For example, the drugs trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) and brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) are said to have a higher prognosis with HER2-positive breast cancer relapse and Hodgkin’s disease, respectively. More so, new-generation DACs are being tested in multiple types of cancer, proving the modality’s adaptability. Moreover, bispecific antibodies and the increase in targeting strategies have been the main focus in the selectivity and efficiency of DACs. They not only attain the required therapeutic index improvements but they also uncover the possibilities of combined therapies thus enhancing the general efficiency of the treatment.
  • Conclusion: Advancements made in the field of drug-antibody conjugates define the horizon of targeted cancer therapy and more. Prodrugs, linker technologies, payloads and targeting strategies have had progress over the years which has enhanced the efficacy and safety of such therapies and have therefore been accorded beneficial clinical results. Further development of the field of research, DACs provide new innovative therapeutic approaches for oncological and other diseases. Further progression in biomarker discovery along with ongoing clinical research efforts to more accurately define the patient population for DAC treatment will only add to the future efficacy of DAC therapies. Drug-antibody conjugates are envisioned for the future, which leads to enhancing and specifying the effectiveness of anticancer and other agent
  • Keywords: drug-antibody conjugates, targeted therapy, linker technology, payload optimization,clinical trial