Selecting disease-specific antigens to minimise ADC toxicity to healthy cells
18 Nov 2024
Antibody Drug Conjugates
- Antigen Heterogeneity: Tumor cells often express various antigens, making it difficult to identify universal targets consistently present across different patients or tumor types.
- Normal Tissue expression: Many antigens that are overexpressed in tumors may also have low levels of expression in healthy tissues, leading to potential off-target effects and toxicity.
- Tumor microenvironment: The presence of immune cells and stromal components in the tumor microenvironment can influence antigen expression and complicate the targeting strategy.
- Dynamic expression: Tumor antigens can change over time due to mutations, treatment response, or adaptive mechanisms, requiring continuous monitoring and validation of target specificity.
- Immunogenicity: Antigen selection must consider the potential for immune responses against the ADC itself, which might lead to adverse effects and reduced efficacy.
Industry Expert
Bayer