About this Research Topic
Despite the continuing development of new and more efficient treatments, cancer remains the second cause of premature death worldwide. The lack of selectivity is one of the main limitations of traditional chemotherapy because of the severe side effects associated to high drug dosages.
Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), the Nobel laureate in Physiology of 1908, had the early vision that a toxin could be delivered by a selective agent to a tumor cell. This “magic-bullet” idea inspired the development of drug-delivery systems in which the payload is conjugated to a specific vehicle (monoclonal antibodies, peptides, nanoparticles) targeting an antigen or receptor, and is liberated at the tumor site without affecting the healthy tissue. Targeted drug delivery is therefore a growing-interest field in cancer therapy as a strategy for overcoming systemic cytotoxicity, as exemplified by the recent approvals of several Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and with more than 80 ADC in clinical trial pipelines.
Despite this success, ADCs present some drawbacks related to the use of mAbs such as high manufacturing costs, unfavorable pharmacokinetics (low tissue diffusion and low accumulation rate) and possible immune response; for this reason, smaller formats such as Small Molecule-Drug Conjugates (SMDC) and Peptide-Drug Conjugates have become an interesting alternative for the selective delivery of drugs into tumors. This Research Topic aims to highlight the latest advances and the newly emerging strategies in Drug-Conjugate design for Tumor Therapy, including the design of new homing devices and of new linkers, as well as the use of payload capable to stimulate tumor immune responses.
We cordially invite those researchers from the field of chemistry, biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, biology and pharmacology to contribute to this Research Topic in form of reviews or original research articles in order to bring together new insights about this intriguing research area.
Areas covered by this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• Synthesis and biological evaluation of new or improved drug conjugates for tumor therapy
• Design of new or improved linkers
• Development of new or improved homing device, including antibodies and related, small-molecules and peptides
• Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of immune-stimulating tumor immune response drug-conjugates
• Development of new methods for the identification of new receptor-binding epitopes.
Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), the Nobel laureate in Physiology of 1908, had the early vision that a toxin could be delivered by a selective agent to a tumor cell. This “magic-bullet” idea inspired the development of drug-delivery systems in which the payload is conjugated to a specific vehicle (monoclonal antibodies, peptides, nanoparticles) targeting an antigen or receptor, and is liberated at the tumor site without affecting the healthy tissue. Targeted drug delivery is therefore a growing-interest field in cancer therapy as a strategy for overcoming systemic cytotoxicity, as exemplified by the recent approvals of several Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and with more than 80 ADC in clinical trial pipelines.
Despite this success, ADCs present some drawbacks related to the use of mAbs such as high manufacturing costs, unfavorable pharmacokinetics (low tissue diffusion and low accumulation rate) and possible immune response; for this reason, smaller formats such as Small Molecule-Drug Conjugates (SMDC) and Peptide-Drug Conjugates have become an interesting alternative for the selective delivery of drugs into tumors. This Research Topic aims to highlight the latest advances and the newly emerging strategies in Drug-Conjugate design for Tumor Therapy, including the design of new homing devices and of new linkers, as well as the use of payload capable to stimulate tumor immune responses.
We cordially invite those researchers from the field of chemistry, biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, biology and pharmacology to contribute to this Research Topic in form of reviews or original research articles in order to bring together new insights about this intriguing research area.
Areas covered by this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• Synthesis and biological evaluation of new or improved drug conjugates for tumor therapy
• Design of new or improved linkers
• Development of new or improved homing device, including antibodies and related, small-molecules and peptides
• Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of immune-stimulating tumor immune response drug-conjugates
• Development of new methods for the identification of new receptor-binding epitopes.
Keywords: Drug-Conjugate, Drug Delivery, Cancer, Targeted Delivery, Tumor Therapy
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