New immune cell engagers for cancer immunotherapy

Bridging the gap with multispecific immune cell engagers in cancer and infectious diseases

“…The tolerance and safety profiles of certain BiKEs, which exhibit exceptional in vitro results, were further evaluated in nonhuman primates (NHPs), an indispensable step preceding clinical studies. The constructs that could safely be administered were further included in clinical studies, as discussed in other reviews [5,43]. As such, AFM13 (anti-CD16a × anti-CD30, phase II), AFM24 (anti-CD16a × anti-EGFR, phase I), AFM26 (anti-CD16a × anti-BCMA, phase I) and AFM28 (anti-CD16a × anti-CD123, pre-IND) are currently being evaluated for the treatment of lymphoma, advanced solid cancers and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), respectively.…”

“…Since neutrophils are also characterized by the expression of different FcγR and FcαRI receptors, the finding that macrophage and neutrophil engagers are approached through similar approaches is not surprising. Many bispecific engagers targeting these cell types have been studied in preclinical and clinical studies, which have been brilliantly reviewed elsewhere [5,75] and are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Overall, immunotherapy notably includes cancer vaccines, cytokines, therapeutic antibodies, oncolytic viruses, adoptive cellular transfer and, more recently, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. These various approaches have been widely described and reviewed [5,6].…”

“…Despite comprehensive coverage in the literature, a specific branch within antibody-based therapy, namely, immune cell engagers, has received, until very recently [5], comparatively limited attention. Immune cell engagers are engineered antibodybased structures designed to bridge immune cells to their target, thus redirecting the immune effector response toward the bound cell pathogen.…”

“…Consistently, this review aims to provide a thorough exploration of immune cell engagers, elucidating their mechanisms and elaborating on their promising applications within the dynamic landscape of immunotherapy against cancer and infectious diseases. In light of the recently published exhaustive review by the Vivier group about new cell engagers in cancer immunotherapy [5], we will focus more on other applications, predominantly in the virology field.…”