Antimesothelin

Antimesothelin refers to any therapeutic agent or strategy aimed at counteracting mesothelin, a cell surface glycoprotein implicated in cell adhesion and signaling. Antimesothelin approaches include monoclonal antibodies that bind mesothelin, antibody-drug conjugates, soluble receptor decoys, vaccines designed to provoke an anti-mesothelin immune response, and cellular therapies such as CAR-T or T cell receptor–engineered T cells targeting mesothelin. Small molecules or RNA-based strategies that reduce mesothelin expression or disrupt its interactions also fall under this category. The goal of antimesothelin interventions is to reduce tumor growth, metastasis, or survival of mesothelin-expressing cancer cells while minimizing damage to normal tissues.

Biological context supports targeting mesothelin because it is normally expressed at low levels on mesothelial cells lining the pleura, peritoneum, and pericardium, but is overexpressed in various cancers, including mesothelioma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, ovarian cancer, and some lung cancers. This tumor-associated expression pattern underpins the development of antimesothelin strategies as a form of targeted cancer therapy.

Clinical and research status remains exploratory. Several anti-mesothelin therapies have been evaluated in preclinical models and clinical trials, with mixed results and no universally approved agent to date. Common challenges include potential off-tumor toxicity to normal mesothelial tissues, heterogeneity of mesothelin expression among tumors, immunogenicity, and the emergence of resistance. The term antimesothelin is used to describe this class of strategies collectively rather than a single approved compound.