The year 2023 witnessed a significant revolution in oncology, marked by the emergence of new anti-cancer molecules and innovative strategies.
Antibody conjugates have considerably improved patient survival in numerous cancer types. These treatments are likely to play a key role in advanced-stage disease of urothelial cancers and in several breast cancer types as well, including triple-negative, HER2-positive, and a new entity known as “HER2 weak”.
Considering renal cancer, targeting the HIF transcription factor by means of a targeted therapy that inhibits not only angiogenesis, but also various survival pathways, looks rather promising. This novel therapeutic strategy can be administered either as a single agent or in combination.
Uveal melanoma is the most common primary malignant intraocular tumor. Despite the efficacy of local treatments, half of all affected patients experience extra-ocular recurrence, with liver involvement observed in 90% of them. Median survival for patients with metastatic disease has been proven to range between 6 and 12 months. Targeted treatments, such as thermo-ablation or surgery, likely improve the prognosis of patients with single-site recurrences. Chemotherapy is not very effective. Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1 antibodies, only modestly increases overall survival in metastatic disease patients. Tebentafusp, a new form of immunotherapy, is the first molecule to demonstrate a real improvement in overall survival of metastatic patients. Tebentafusp is a T-cell receptor coupled with an anti-CD3 antibody, being able to transform all lymphocytes into anti-melanocyte lymphocytes. Nevertheless, only patients with an HLA-A*02:01 allele, meaning 50% of Caucasians, are likely to benefit from this therapeutic innovation.
Keywords
Antibody conjugate, enfortumab vedotin, sacituzumab govitecan, trastuzumab deruxtecan, belzutifan, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), uveal melanoma, tebentafusp, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors