Radiolabeling and biological evaluation of DOTA-Ph-Al derivative conjugated to anti-EGFR antibody ior egf/r3 for targeted tumor imaging and therapy.

An appropriate bifunctional chelating agent namely DOTA-Ph-Al was developed for the conjugation with biological vectors (anti EGFr antibody). We hereby report the synthesis of p-bromoacetamidobenzyl derivative of DOTA and its conjugation to monoclonal antibody anti-EGFR ior egf/r3. Immunoconjugate was prepared by conjugation of p-bromoacetamidobenzyl derivative of DOTA with ior egf/r3. Modified antibody was purified by size exclusion chromatography. DOTA-Ph-Al-ior egf/r3 exhibited quantitative 99mTc-labeling (>96%) with specific activity 10-20 mCi/mg of protein and 90Y-labeling with specific activity 2-5 mCi/mg. Immunoreactivity was determined by flow cytometry. Receptor ligand assay on murine cell line EAT and human tumor cell line U-87MG showed Kd = 2.87 nM and 4.86 nM respectively. The stability in serum indicated that 99mTc remained bound to antibodies up to 24h and 98% 90Y was associated with the mAb for five days. Biodistribution characteristics of Ab-conjugate radiolabeled to 99mTc and 90Y radionuclide was examined in BALB/c mice grafted with EAT and athymic mice with U-87MG cell line demonstrated high tumor uptake with 5.5 +/- 1.3 and 7.85 +/- 1.2%ID/g at four and 24 h for 99mTc- DOTA-Ph-AI-ior egf/r3 in EAT tumors after post injection respectively. Maximal radiotracer uptake peaked 17.6 +/- 2.5%ID/g in EAT tumor and 12.89 +/- 0.66% ID/g in U-87MG tumor at 48h for 90Y. The drug excreted through renal routes as the activity in the kidneys was 13.42 +/- 0.33%ID/g at 1 h and 4.51 +/- 1.2%ID/g at 4 h for 99mTc- DOTA-Ph-Al-ior egf/r3.