title: Antibody Drug Conjugate bioinformatics: drug delivery through the letterbox.
abstract: Antibodies appear to be the first line of defence in the adaptive immune response of vertebrates and thereby are involved in a multitude of biochemical mechanisms, such as regulation of infection, autoimmunity, and cancer. It goes without saying that a full understanding of antibody function is required for the development of novel antibody-interacting drugs. These drugs are the Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), which are a new type of targeted therapy, used for example for cancer. They consist of an antibody (or antibody fragment such as a single-chain variable fragment [scFv]) linked to a payload drug (often cytotoxic). Because of the targeting, the side effects should be lower and give a wider therapeutic window. Overall, the underlying principle of ADCs is to discern the delivery of a drug that is cytotoxic to a target that is cancerous, hoping to increase the antitumoural potency of the original drug by reducing adverse effects and side effects, such as toxicity of the cancer target. This is a pioneering field that employs state-of-the-art computational and molecular biology methods in the fight against cancer using ADCs.
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics & Medical Informatics Team, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Soranou Efessiou 4, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vlachakis
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kossida
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019295:Computational Biology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D018796:Immunoconjugates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018448:Models, Immunological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018796:Immunoconjugates