Antibody-Drug Conjugates in Breast Cancer: A Comprehensive Review of How to Selectively Deliver Payloads.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have surfaced as a promising group of anticancer agents employing the precise targeting capacity of monoclonal antibodies to transport highly effective cytotoxic payloads. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, they aim to selectively eradicate cancer cells while minimizing off-target toxicity on healthy tissues. An increasing body of evidence has provided support for the efficacy of ADCs in treating breast cancer across various contexts and tumor subtypes, resulting in significant changes in clinical practice. Nevertheless, unlocking the full potential of these therapeutic agents demands innovative molecular designs to address complex clinical challenges, including drug resistance, tumor heterogeneity, and treatment-related adverse events. This thorough review provides an in-depth analysis of the clinical data on ADCs, offering crucial insights from pivotal clinical trials that assess the efficacy of ADCs in diverse breast cancer settings. This aids in providing a comprehensive understanding of the current state of ADCs in breast cancer therapy, while also providing valuable perspectives for the future.

Cancer immunotherapy: the art of targeting the tumor immune microenvironment.

For many decades, cancer treatment has been strongly directed toward the development of cytotoxic and cytostatic drugs, quite often leading to disappointing results due to the inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity. Lately, this intra-cellular look has given way to the understanding of the tumor microenvironment, thus enabling modification of the immunological dynamics between tumor cells and their host. An era of new drugs aiming to unlock the host immune system against tumor cells is steadily increasing. Strategies involving adoptive cell therapy, therapeutic vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors and so on have provided spectacular clinical responses and increased survival in previously refractory settings and "hard-to-treat" cancers. Based on a comprehensive search in the main scientific databases, annals of recent renowned oncology congresses and platforms of ongoing trials, the clinical pharmacology characteristics of the main classes of immunotherapeutic agents, as well as the new treatment strategies related to immunotherapy in solid tumors, are carefully discussed throughout this review.