Editing Chemotherapy (section)

==== Antibody-drug conjugates ====
[[Antibody-drug conjugate]]s (ADCs) comprise an [[antibody]], drug and a linker between them. The antibody will be targeted at a preferentially expressed protein in the tumour cells (known as a [[tumor antigen]]) or on cells that the tumor can utilise, such as blood vessel [[endothelial cells]]. They bind to the tumor antigen and are internalised, where the linker releases the drug into the cell. These specially targeted delivery vehicles vary in their stability, selectivity, and choice of target, but, in essence, they all aim to increase the maximum effective dose that can be delivered to the tumor cells.<ref name="pmid22003066">{{cite journal | vauthors = Teicher BA, Chari RV | title = Antibody conjugate therapeutics: challenges and potential | journal = Clinical Cancer Research | volume = 17 | issue = 20 | pages = 6389–97 | date = October 2011 | pmid = 22003066 | doi = 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-11-1417 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Reduced systemic toxicity means that they can also be used in people who are sicker and that they can carry new chemotherapeutic agents that would have been far too toxic to deliver via traditional systemic approaches.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mokhtari |first1=Reza Bayat |last2=Homayouni |first2=Tina S. |last3=Baluch |first3=Narges |last4=Morgatskaya |first4=Evgeniya |last5=Kumar |first5=Sushil |last6=Das |first6=Bikul |last7=Yeger |first7=Herman |date=2017-03-30 |title=Combination therapy in combating cancer |journal=Oncotarget |volume=8 |issue=23 |pages=38022–38043 |doi=10.18632/oncotarget.16723 |issn=1949-2553 |pmc=5514969 |pmid=28410237}}</ref>

The first approved drug of this type was [[gemtuzumab ozogamicin]] (Mylotarg), released by [[Wyeth]] (now [[Pfizer]]). The drug was approved to treat [[acute myeloid leukemia]].<ref name="pmid11673694">{{cite journal | vauthors = Sievers EL, Linenberger M | title = Mylotarg: antibody-targeted chemotherapy comes of age | journal = Current Opinion in Oncology | volume = 13 | issue = 6 | pages = 522–7 | date = November 2001 | pmid = 11673694 | doi = 10.1097/00001622-200111000-00016 | s2cid = 27827980 }}</ref> Two other drugs, [[trastuzumab emtansine]] and [[brentuximab vedotin]], are both in late clinical trials, and the latter has been granted accelerated approval for the treatment of [[refractory]] [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]] and systemic [[anaplastic large cell lymphoma]].<ref name="pmid22003066" />