Takahashi JI, Nakamura S, Onuma I, Zhou Y, Yokoyama S, Sakurai H (2022) Synchronous intracellular delivery of EGFR-targeted antibody-drug conjugates by p38-mediated non-canonical endocytosis. Sci Rep 12(1):11561. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-15838-8 PMID: 35798841
Objective: The binding of cetuximab to EGFR suppresses ligand-induced signaling events. The authors demonstrate that synchronous non-canonical EGFR endocytosis can increase the efficacy of EGFR-targeting ADCs.
Summary: Epidermal growth factor (EGFR) has been a popular target in the treatment of cancer via monoclonal antibodies, specifically cetuximab and panitumumab. They have been applied to antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and their clinical efficacy had been demonstrated, but this efficacy has also been limited by acquired resistance via secondary mutations or the activation of bypass pathways. To overcome these limiting factors, the authors investigated if non-canonical clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) of EGFR induced the internalization of membrane-bound EGFR-targeted mAbs. Their results show that tumor necrosis factor-alpha strongly induces endocytosis of the cetuximab-EGFR complex via the p38 phosphorylation of EGFR and that Hum-ZAP, a secondary antibody conjugated to saporin, will also undergo internalization with the complex and enhance anti-proliferative activity.
Related Products: Hum-ZAP (Cat. #IT-22)