Innate immunity gets another shot at cancer through ADCs

Antibody-drug conjugates are the modality of the moment in oncology, promising to improve on both the safety and efficacy of traditional chemotherapy, but there’s room to improve. As companies continue to optimize the linker chemistry and payloads of conventional ADCs, a promising twist on the technology aims to use it to stimulate immune responses in the tumor environment.

Immunostimulatory antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are similar to conventional ADCs in that both use a tumor-targeting antibody to deliver a payload to tumor cells, thereby achieving a wider therapeutic window than the free payload. The primary difference is in the type of payload they deliver. ...