Unsatisfactory physicochemical properties of macromolecular drugs seriously hinder their application in tumor immunotherapy. However, these problems can be effectively solved by small-molecule compounds. In the promising field of small-molecule drug development, proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) offers a novel mode of action in the interactions between small molecules and therapeutic targets (mainly proteins). This revolutionary technology has shown considerable impact on several proteins related to tumor survival but is rarely exploited in proteins associated with immuno-oncology up until now. This review attempts to comprehensively summarize the well-studied and less-developed immunological targets available for PROTAC technology, as well as some targets to be explored, aiming to provide more options and opportunities for the development of small-molecule-based tumor immunotherapy. In addition, some novel directions that can magnify and broaden the protein degradation efficiency are mentioned to improve PROTAC design in the future.
Keywords: proteolysis targeting chimera; small molecule inhibitors; targeted protein degradation; tumor immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment.