Multifunctional antibody-derived IL-12 mimetics: prospects of future clinical development

Antibody-derived cytokine mimetics represent an emerging class of immunomodulatory agents in a bi- or multispecific architecture which might complement conventional cytokine engineering approaches. While these entities can be highly tailor-made for precise receptor engagement, enabling the modulation of downstream signaling, cell-type specificity, and functional bias, challenges remain, such as potential immunogenicity, preclinical model limitations, and differences in receptor binding affinities compared with natural cytokines.