癌症是致命性疾病之一，每年全球造成数百万的死亡。传统的抗癌疗法是非特异性的，并且具有全身毒性，限制了它们在许多癌症中的多功能应用。因此，迫切需要更具特异性的治疗选择，既能有效又没有毒性。抗体药物偶联物（ADCs）是合适的替代方案，具有良好的潜力和改进的治疗指数用于癌症治疗。 ADC是一类高度精确的生物制药产品，通过化学连接剂（释放药物）与定制的细胞毒性药物（杀死癌细胞）共价连接单克隆抗体（专门与肿瘤相关的表面抗原结合）。由于其精确的设计，它能针对目标细胞进行杀伤，避免了对正常细胞的伤害，也没有传统化疗的毒性作用。开发潜力可行的ADCs以成功治疗使用从未如此容易。通过不懈努力，科学家花了近一个世纪的时间来提高ADCs的配方和设计，使其具有当前临床应用。到目前为止，已有几种ADCs成功通过了临床前和临床试验，因其明确的疗效，有几种已获得FDA批准以治疗不同的癌症类型。尽管ADCs在开发的各个阶段存在一些缺点，如不良反应和耐药性，但通过持续努力，大多数这些限制得到了解决和克服，以提高其疗效。在本综述中，将讨论ADCs的基本原理、物理化学性质、设计的演变、局限性和未来潜力。版权所有 © 2023 Aggarwal, Yang, Salam, Sengupta, Al-Amin, Mustafa, Khan, Huang and Pawar.

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases, causing million of deaths each year globally. Conventional anti-cancer therapies are non-targeted and have systemic toxicities limiting their versatile applications in many cancers. So, there is an unmet need for more specific therapeutic options that will be effective as well as free from toxicities. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are suitable alternatives with the right potential and improved therapeutic index for cancer therapy. The ADCs are highly precise new class of biopharmaceutical products that covalently linked a monoclonal antibody (mAb) (binds explicitly to a tumor-associated surface antigen) with a customized cytotoxic drug (kills cancer cells) and tied via a chemical linker (releases the drug). Due to its precise design, it brings about the target cell killing sparing the normal counterpart and free from the toxicities of conventional chemotherapy. It has never been so easy to develop potential ADCs for successful therapeutic usage. With relentless efforts, it took almost a century for scientists to advance the formula and design ADCs for its current clinical applications. Until now, several ADCs have passed successfully through preclinical and clinical trials and because of proven efficacy, a few are approved by the FDA to treat various cancer types. Even though ADCs posed some shortcomings like adverse effects and resistance at various stages of development, with continuous efforts most of these limitations are addressed and overcome to improve their efficacy. In this review, the basics of ADCs, physical and chemical properties, the evolution of design, limitations, and future potentials are discussed.Copyright © 2023 Aggarwal, Yang, Salam, Sengupta, Al-Amin, Mustafa, Khan, Huang and Pawar.