Recent advancements in fusion protein technologies in oncotherapy: A review

Cancer is a complicated, adaptable, and heterogeneous disease caused by a wide variety of genetic changes that might impair ability of cells to function normally. The majority of the tumors can only be shrunk using conventional oncology therapies like chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical resection, and the tumor often recurs. The inability of conventional cancer therapies to completely destroy the Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) that otherwise lead to therapy resistance is thus addressed by therapeutic approaches that concentrate on targeting CSCs and their micro-environmental niche. In this review, we summarize approaches that are used for the development of fusion proteins and their therapeutic applications for treating cancer. The main purpose of making advancements towards the fusion technology instead of using conventional treatment methods is to achieve a prolonged halflife of the therapeutic drugs. The fusion of drugs to the immune response enhancing cytokines or the fusion of antibody and cytokines not only increases half-life but also increase the stability of the anti-tumor drug. Several molecules including different fragments of antibodies, cytokines, Human Serum Albumin, transferrin, XTEN polymers, Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) can be employed as a fusion partner and the resulting fusion proteins are reported to show enhanced anti-tumor response.

Automated summary

Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease caused by genetic changes that impair normal cellular function. Conventional therapies are only able to shrink tumors, but they often recur due to the presence of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) that are resistant to treatment. This review discusses the use of fusion proteins to target CSCs and their micro-environmental niche in order to overcome therapy resistance. By fusing drugs to immune response enhancing cytokines or antibodies, the half-life and stability of the anti-tumor drugs can be increased, resulting in enhanced anti-tumor response.