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Review
. 2023 Jul 5;31(7):1874-1903.
doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.03.019. Epub 2023 Mar 22.

Clinical perspective: Antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer

Zohreh Najminejad  1 , Fatemeh Dehghani  2 , Yousef Mirzaei  3 , Ali Hussein Mer  4 , Seyyed Amirreza Saghi  2 , Mohadeseh Haji Abdolvahab  5 , Nader Bagheri  6 , Anna Meyfour  7 , Ameneh Jafari  8 , Saeed Jahandideh  9 , Tohid Gharibi  10 , Zahra Amirkhani  2 , Hamed Delam  2 , Noushin Mashatan  11 , Hosein Shahsavarani  12 , Meghdad Abdollahpour-Alitappeh  13
Affiliations
Review

Clinical perspective: Antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer

Zohreh Najminejad et al. Mol Ther. .

Abstract

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a promising class of cancer biopharmaceuticals that exploit the specificity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to selectively deliver highly cytotoxic small molecules to targeted cancer cells, leading to an enhanced therapeutic index through increased antitumor activity and decreased off-target toxicity. ADCs hold great promise for the treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer after the approval and tremendous success of trastuzumab emtansine and trastuzumab deruxtecan, representing a turning point in both HER2-positive breast cancer treatment and ADC technology. Additionally and importantly, a total of 29 ADC candidates are now being investigated in different stages of clinical development for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. The purpose of this review is to provide an insight into the ADC field in cancer treatment and present a comprehensive overview of ADCs approved or under clinical investigation for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.

Keywords: ADCs; HER2; HER2-postive breast cancer; antibody-drug conjugates; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; immunoconjugates; targeted therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of an antibody-drug conjugate
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of action of antibody-drug conjugates
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structures of disclosed drug-linker moieties used in antibody-drug conjugates against HER2-positive breast cancer
Figure 4
Figure 4
Antibody, payload, and linker types Types of antibody (A), payload (B), and linker (C) used in antibody-drug conjugates under development for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer in clinical trials. mAb, monoclonal antibody.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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