Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are self-renewing multipotent cells that play a vital role in the development of cancer drug resistance conditions. Various therapies like conventional, targeted, and radiotherapies have been broadly used in targeting and killing these CSCs. Among these, targeted therapy selectively targets CSCs and leads to overcoming disease recurrence conditions in cancer patients. Immunotoxins (ITs) are protein-based therapeutics with selective targeting capabilities. These chimeric molecules are composed of two functional moieties, i.e., a targeting moiety for cell surface binding and a toxin moiety that induces the programmed cell death upon internalization. Several ITs have been constructed recently, and their preclinical and clinical efficacies have been evaluated. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the recent preclinical and clinical advances as well as significant challenges in ITs targeting CSCs, which might reduce the burden of drug resistance conditions in cancer patients from bench to bedside.
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•Immunotoxins (ITs) have been broadly used in targeted therapy of cancer.•These chimeric protein molecules also manage cancer drug resistance condition.•It induces the programmed cell death in cancer stem cells residing in tumors.•ITs have been utilized at both preclinical and clinical levels to overcome relapsed condition in cancer patients.