Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs)

Unlike conventional chemotherapy treatments, which can damage healthy cells, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are targeted medicines that deliver chemotherapy agents to cancer cells.¹ ADCs deliver the chemotherapy via a linker attached to a monoclonal antibody that binds to a specific target expressed on cancer cells. After binding to the target (cancer protein or receptor), the ADC releases a cytotoxic drug into the cancer cell.¹ 

“Fully human” monoclonal antibodies (which have been engineered to carry human antibody genes) are an ideal delivery platform for ADCs.¹ They are highly targeted and cell-specific, have a long circulating half-life and offer minimal immunogenicity.¹ The chemical “linkers” that join together the antibodies and cytotoxic drugs are highly stable to prevent cleaving (splitting) before the ADC enters the tumour.¹ The anticancer drugs (or “payloads”) penetrate the tumour and cause cell death either by damaging the DNA of cancer cells or by preventing new cancer cells from forming and spreading.¹

Reference

1. Peters C, Brown S. Antibody-drug conjugates as novel anti-cancer chemotherapeutics. Biosci Rep. 2015;35(4):e00225. Published 2015 Jul 14. Available at http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26182432/. Accessed July 2020.