Bispecific Antibody Pretargeting for Improving Cancer Imaging and Therapy

The main objective of this project was to evaluate pretargeting systems that use a bispecific antibody (bsMAb) to improve the detection and treatment of cancer. A bsMAb has specificity to a tumor antigen, which is used to bind the tumor, while the other specificity is to a peptide that can be radiolabeled. Pretargeting is the process by which the unlabeled bsMAb is given first, and after a sufficient time (1-2 days) is given for it to localize in the tumor and clear from the blood, a small molecular weight radiolabeled peptide is given. According to a dynamic imaging study using a 99mTc-labeled peptide, the radiolabeled peptide localizes in the tumor in less than 1 hour, with > 80% of it clearing from the blood and body within this same time. Tumor/nontumor targeting ratios that are nearly 50 times better than that with a directly radiolabeled Fab fragment have been observed (Sharkey et al., ''Signal amplification in molecular imaging by a multivalent bispecific nanobody'' submitted). The bsMAbs used in this project have been composed of 3 antibodies that will target antigens found in colorectal and pancreatic cancers (CEA, CSAp, and MUC1). For the ''peptide binding moiety'' of the bsMAb, we initially examined an antibody directed to DOTA, but subsequently focused on another antibody directed against a novel compound, HSG (histamine-succinyl-glycine)