Dr. Soliman the Utility of ADCs in Breast Cancer

Hatem Soliman, MD, medical oncologist, The Center for Women’s Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the utility of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in breast cancer.

ADCs offer a treatment platform that deliver toxic payloads precisely to tumor cells, Soliman explains. Moreover, ADCs are designed to allow active agents that are too toxic to be delivered intravenously or orally to be given with minimal toxicity.

Notably, the efficacy of an ADC is based on the agent’s ability to deliver the toxic payload to the tumor cells while sparing normal tissue, says Soliman. Some ADCs may improve the therapeutic index while retaining good quality of life for patients.

It is possible that a patient will develop resistance to an ADC as the tumor may become resistant to the toxic payload. Additionally, the tumor may downregulate the target that the antibodies attach to, Soliman says.

However, research efforts are focused on identifying a variety of targets that are highly expressed by tumor cells but not by normal tissue, concludes Soliman.