Targeted human cytolytic fusion proteins at the cutting edge: harnessing the apoptosis-inducing properties of human enzymes for the selective elimination of tumor cells.

Targeted human cytolytic fusion proteins at the cutting edge: harnessing the apoptosis-inducing properties of human enzymes for the selective elimination of tumor cells. Oncotarget. 2019 Jan 25;10(8):897-915 Authors: Mungra N, Jordaan S, Hlongwane P, Naran K, Chetty S, Barth S Abstract Patient-specific targeted therapy represents the holy grail of anti-cancer therapeutics, allowing potent tumor depletion without detrimental off-target toxicities. Disease-specific monoclonal antibodies have been employed to bind to oncogenic cell-surface receptors, representing the earliest form of immunotherapy. Targeted drug delivery was first achieved by means of antibody-drug conjugates, which exploit the differential expression of tumor-associated antigens as a guiding mechanism for the specific delivery of chemically-conjugated chemotherapeutic agents to diseased target cells. Biotechnological advances have expanded the repertoire of immunology-based tumor-targeting strategies, also paving the way for the next intuitive step in targeted drug delivery: the construction of recombinant protein drugs consisting of an antibody-based targeting domain genetically fused with a cytotoxic peptide, known as an immunotoxin. However, the most potent protein toxins have typically been derived from bacterial or plant virulence factors and commonly feature both off-target toxicity and immunogenicity in human patients. Further refinement of immunotoxin technolog...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research