Figure 1.

Schematic illustration of the key processes that determine the local distribution and effects of an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). ADCs are products based on selective targeting, efficient internalization, and site-specific cleavage in the tumour cell resulting in the high intracellular availability of very potent chemotherapeutics. Critical features include plasma/systemic stability, tumour tissue diffusion/distribution, target selection, cell uptake characteristics, linker chemistry and cleaving mechanisms, and antibody-to-drug molecule ratio.