Elucidating the Cell Surfaceome to Accelerate Cancer Drug Development

Abstract

Cell surface proteins represent ideal therapeutic targets because of their accessibility to antibodies, T cell–directed therapies, and radiotherapies, but there are only 25 therapeutically relevant cell surface targets for which cancer therapies are approved in the United States or European Union. This commentary calls for intensified research into mapping the universe of cell surface proteins – the cell surfaceome – in order to accelerate cancer drug development.