Advances in pretargeting biotechnology

A major focus of current drug research is to improve drug targeting to inte rnal target sites such as to solid tumors or specific organs. The objective of drug targeting, especially for cancer chemotherapy and radioimmunothera py, is to enhance the effectiveness of the drug by concentrating it at the target site and minimizing its effects in nontarget sites. Although tumor t argeting has been obtained with large long-circulating radiolabeled antibod y molecules, normal organ activity, especially in the blood kidneys, liver, and bone marrow is a significant problem. Over the last 20 years, studies to improve the therapeutic use of antibodies have included the use of antib ody fragments, chase molecules, metabolizable linkers, antibody-directed en zyme prodrugs (ADEPT), local delivery, and pretargeting. Here, we will revi ew the most interesting recent advances in pretargeting biotechnology. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.