{"title":"Targeting glypican 3 by immunotoxins: the promise of immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma.","authors":"Elham Rismani, Nikoo Hossein-Khannazer, Moustapha Hassan, Elahe Shams, Mustapha Najimi, Massoud Vosough","doi":"10.1080/14728222.2025.2471581","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Tumor cell's resistance, high recurrence rate, and low overall survival rate have made hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) a major health concern. The combination of advanced targeted therapies such as immunotherapy, with conventional treatments has gained traction for application on HCC. Immunotoxins (ITs) represent a category of biomolecules that combine the targeted affinity of antibodies with the cytotoxic properties of toxins.</p><p><strong>Areas covered: </strong>This study highlights Glypican3 (GPC3) as a potential candidate for targeted therapeutic interventions using ITs. It presents a comprehensive overview of the advantages and challenges associated with these modalities, and their promising outcomes in HCC treatment. A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus from 2015 to 2024.</p><p><strong>Expert opinion: </strong>Despite potential applicability, many concerns should be addressed before the employment of GPC3-based ITs. These include improving efficient penetration of ITs into the solid tumors, considering neutralizing antibodies against the drugs, and enhancing serum half-life of ITs. Furthermore, the ITs potential in eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) and residual tumor cells is discussed. The ability to target CSCs can significantly reduce the likelihood of recurrence and improve overall survival rate. This could make ITs a pivotal component in the future of HCC treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":12185,"journal":{"name":"Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets","volume":" ","pages":"59-73"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14728222.2025.2471581","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/2/26 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Tumor cell's resistance, high recurrence rate, and low overall survival rate have made hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) a major health concern. The combination of advanced targeted therapies such as immunotherapy, with conventional treatments has gained traction for application on HCC. Immunotoxins (ITs) represent a category of biomolecules that combine the targeted affinity of antibodies with the cytotoxic properties of toxins.
Areas covered: This study highlights Glypican3 (GPC3) as a potential candidate for targeted therapeutic interventions using ITs. It presents a comprehensive overview of the advantages and challenges associated with these modalities, and their promising outcomes in HCC treatment. A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus from 2015 to 2024.
Expert opinion: Despite potential applicability, many concerns should be addressed before the employment of GPC3-based ITs. These include improving efficient penetration of ITs into the solid tumors, considering neutralizing antibodies against the drugs, and enhancing serum half-life of ITs. Furthermore, the ITs potential in eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) and residual tumor cells is discussed. The ability to target CSCs can significantly reduce the likelihood of recurrence and improve overall survival rate. This could make ITs a pivotal component in the future of HCC treatment.
期刊介绍:
The journal evaluates molecules, signalling pathways, receptors and other therapeutic targets and their potential as candidates for drug development. Articles in this journal focus on the molecular level and early preclinical studies. Articles should not include clinical information including specific drugs and clinical trials.
The Editors welcome:
Reviews covering novel disease targets at the molecular level and information on early preclinical studies and their implications for future drug development.
Articles should not include clinical information including specific drugs and clinical trials.
Original research papers reporting results of target selection and validation studies and basic mechanism of action studies for investigative and marketed drugs.
The audience consists of scientists, managers and decision makers in the pharmaceutical industry, academic researchers working in the field of molecular medicine and others closely involved in R&D.