Preparation of Site-Specific Cytotoxic Protein Conjugates via Maleimide-thiol Chemistry and Sortase A-Mediated Ligation

Cancer is currently the second most common cause of death worldwide. The hallmark of cancer cells is the presence of specific marker proteins such as growth factor receptors on their surface. This feature enables development of highly selective therapeutics, the protein bioconjugates, composed of targeting proteins (antibodies or receptor ligands) connected to highly cytotoxic drugs by a specific linker. Due to very high affinity and selectivity...