Antibody Drug Conjugates: A New Era in Cancer Therapy

By Dr. Giuseppe Banna

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are currently one of the fastest growing directions in tumor treatment, and great progress has been made in the areas of breast cancer, other solid tumors (such as gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer), and hematological malignancies.  There are many targets for ADCs and therefore, much ongoing and promising research. To help drive this research, a group of world-renowned oncologists have joined together to launch a Special Collection with Clinical Medicine Insights: Oncology entitled “A Novel Strategy for Treatment of Cancer: Antibody Drug Conjugates”.
We spoke to one of the Guest Editors, Dr. Giuseppe Banna, to find out why this collection is so important right now.

Q: Could you give us an introduction to the topic of your Special Collection, and why it is so important right now?

We are working to support a new era in cancer therapy.
After using monoclonal antibodies to target specific antigens expressed by tumour cells, the biological treatments that target specific gene alteration, and immunotherapy, there have been two major breakthrough drug classes in oncology- bi-specific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

The ADCs represent an innovative way to selectively deliver and release chemotherapy agents to target overexpression in tumour cells, thus maximising the efficacy of cancer drugs and reducing the toxicity to normal cells.

There are many targets for ADCs and, therefore, much ongoing and promising research. However, there is also new toxicity we might need to deal with. Sharing timely knowledge is crucial.

Q: Who is this collection for? Who should submit a paper or read it?

We want this Special Collection to become a platform for all researchers and clinicians to understand these novel drugs better. We are gradually discovering more. For example, we now know that the new toxicity related to some ADCs has been observed more in lung cancer than in any other cancer types. But there is so much more we need to find out.

Sharing knowledge and comparing findings is critical for researchers and clinicians. So, we welcome all high-quality original research and reviews focusing on ADCs for the treatment of cancer.

Q: What do you hope publishing this collection will achieve?

We hope this collection will help guide clinicians on the appropriate management of ADCs. We also aim to inspire researchers to conduct and publish further work dedicated to combining or sequencing ADCs with other drug classes and searching for biomarkers.

You can find out more about the Special Collection, or submit your paper here.

If you’re considering running your own Special Collection, find out more.

Find the Guest Editors of this collection on Twitter:
Dr. Alfredo Addeo
Dr. Giuseppe Banna
Dr. Giuseppe Curigliano
Dr. Ravindran Kanesvaran
Dr. Giannis Mountzios
Dr. Dario Trapani
Dr. Yüksel Ürün

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