T-Cell Engagers in Solid Cancers—Current Landscape and Future Directions

SIMPLE SUMMARY: There are multiple strategies to target cancer cells, and among the rapidly evolving field is the use of bispecific antibodies and T-cell engagers in the treatment of cancers. These drugs work by recruiting and activating T-cells, a type of white blood cell, to recognize and attack cancer cells. These agents consist of two different antibody fragments: one that binds to a tumor antigen on cancer cells and another that binds to the CD3 receptor on T-cells. Once the T-cell engager binds to both the cancer cell and T-cell, it brings the T-cell into close proximity to the cancer cell, leading to the activation of T-cells and the release of cytokines and cytotoxic molecules that kill the cancer cell. T-cell engagers have shown promising results in the treatment of a variety of hematological malignancies. Research is ongoing to explore their use in the treatment of variety of solid cancers. Nevertheless, T-cell engagers can cause side effects like cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity. More research is ongoing to determine their long-term safety and effectiveness. ABSTRACT: Monoclonal antibody treatment initially heralded an era of molecularly targeted therapy in oncology and is now widely applied in modulating anti-cancer immunity by targeting programmed cell receptors (PD-1, PD-L1), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and, more recently, lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3). Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) recently proved to be a valid approach to inducing anti-cancer immunity by directly modifying the host’s immune cells. However, such cell-based therapy requires extensive resources such as leukapheresis, ex vivo modification and expansion of cytotoxic T-cells and current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) laboratories and presents significant logistical challenges. Bi-/trispecific antibody technology is a novel pharmaceutical approach to facilitate the engagement of effector immune cells to potentially multiple cancer epitopes, e.g., the recently approved blinatumomab. This opens the opportunity to develop ‘off-the-shelf’ anti-cancer agents that achieve similar and/or complementary anti-cancer effects as those of modified immune cell therapy. The majority of bi-/trispecific antibodies target the tumor-associated antigens (TAA) located on the extracellular surface of cancer cells. The extracellular antigens represent just a small percentage of known TAAs and are often associated with higher toxicities because some of them are expressed on normal cells (off-target toxicity). In contrast, the targeting of intracellular TAAs such as mutant RAS and TP53 may lead to fewer off-target toxicities while still achieving the desired antitumor efficacy (on-target toxicity). Here, we provide a comprehensive review on the emerging field of bi-/tri-specific T-cell engagers and potential therapeutic opportunities.