Antibody-Based Targeting of Tumor Vasculature and Stroma

Conventional cytotoxic therapies of cancer often suffer from a lack of specificity, leading to a poor therapeutic index and toxicities to normal organs. The targeted delivery of bioactive molecules (cytokines, radionuclides, drugs, photosensitizer, etc.) by means of an antibody specific to tumor-associated markers of the tumor stroma and endothelium offers an elegant way to overcome these drawbacks. In fact, tumor markers of the endothelium and extracellular matrix are particularly attractive, because of their accessibility for intravenously administered agents, their genomic stability and the various therapeutic options they offer, ranging from direct tumor cell killing, to tumor infarction and to the recruitment of immune cells.