Cited by 2,271Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies ResearchToxin Mechanisms and ImmunotoxinsProtein Degradation and Inhibitors

Strategies and challenges for the next generation of antibody–drug conjugates

Beck, Alain, Goetsch, Liliane, Dumontet, Charles, Corvaïa, Nathalie·2017·Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

Abstract

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are one of the fastest growing classes of oncology therapeutics. After half a century of research, the approvals of brentuximab vedotin (in 2011) and trastuzumab emtansine (in 2013) have paved the way for ongoing clinical trials that are evaluating more than 60 further ADC candidates. The limited success of first-generation ADCs (developed in the early 2000s) informed strategies to bring second-generation ADCs to the market, which have higher levels of cytotoxic drug conjugation, lower levels of naked antibodies and more-stable linkers between the drug and the antibody. Furthermore, lessons learned during the past decade are now being used in the development of third-generation ADCs. In this Review, we discuss strategies to select the best target antigens as well as suitable cytotoxic drugs; the design of optimized linkers; the discovery of bioorthogonal conjugation chemistries; and toxicity issues. The selection and engineering of antibodies for site-specific drug conjugation, which will result in higher homogeneity and increased stability, as well as the quest for new conjugation chemistries and mechanisms of action, are priorities in ADC research.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nrd.2016.268

Cites

176 of 176 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Theoretically, the ideal target surface antigen for an antibody-drug conjugate would be expressed exclusively on tumour cells at sufficient density and would be rapidly internalised on conjugate binding.

    “Theoretically, the ideal target surface antigen for an ADC would be expressed exclusively on tumour cells at a sufficient density and would be rapidly internalised on ADC binding.79”
  • Most tumour antigens are more tumour-associated than specific, so ablation of healthy cells expressing the target antigen limits the therapeutic index of antibody-drug conjugates.

    “Most antigens are more tumour-associated than specific and therefore, the ablation of healthy cells expressing the target antigen limits the therapeutic index of ADCs.79”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Beck, A., Goetsch, L., Dumontet, C., & Corvaïa, N.
Affiliations
  • Center of Immunology Pierre Fabre (FR)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
Corresponding author
Beck, Alain
Venue
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Published
2017-03-17
Volume
16
Issue
5
Pages
315-337
ISSN
  • 1474-1776 (ISSN-L)
  • 1474-1784
OpenAlex
W2597045666
Cited by
2,271
References
176
Citations by year
2026: 266 · 2025: 232 · 2024: 237 · 2023: 253 · 2022: 199 · 2021: 244 · 2020: 262 · 2019: 266 · 2018: 233 · 2017: 78
FWCI
34.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Toxin Mechanisms and Immunotoxins
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Degradation and Inhibitors
Keywords
antibody-drug conjugates, target antigen selection, linkers, site-specific conjugation, antibody engineering, brentuximab vedotin, trastuzumab emtansine, clinical trials
MeSH terms
Trastuzumab, Brentuximab Vedotin, Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine, Animals, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Antigens, Neoplasm, Antineoplastic Agents, Drug Stability, Humans, Maytansine, Neoplasms, Drug Design, Immunoconjugates, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review