title: Antibody targeted drugs as cancer therapeutics.
abstract: Treatment of cancer is a double-edged sword: it should be as aggressive as possible to completely destroy the tumour, but it is precisely this aggressiveness which often causes severe side effects - a reason why some promising therapeutics can not be applied systemically. In addition, therapeutics such as cytokines that physiologically function in a para- or autocrine fashion require a locally enhanced level to exert their effect appropriately. An elegant way to accumulate therapeutic agents at the tumour site is their conjugation/fusion to tumour-specific antibodies. Here, we discuss recent preclinical and clinical data for antibody-drug conjugates and fusion proteins with a special focus on drug components that exert their antitumour effects through normal biological processes.
authors.affiliation: University of Wuerzburg, Dermatology, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schrama
authors.forename: Ralph A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Reisfeld
authors.forename: Jürgen C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D000922:Immunotoxins / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D011355:Prodrugs; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000922:Immunotoxins; D011355:Prodrugs; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins