Intravesical administration of radiolabeled antitumor monoclonal antibody in bladder carcinoma.

Tumor associated AUA1 monoclonal antibody and 11.4.1. nonspecific monoclonal antibody, which does not react with human tissues, were radiolabeled with 111In and administered intravesically to 23 patients undergoing cystoscopy for bladder carcinoma. The antibody solution remained in the bladder for 1 h and then was washed out prior to cystoscopy. Tumor and nontumor samples were obtained during cystoscopy and were counted in a gamma counter. Conventional and immunoperoxidase staining with both antibodies were also performed. AUA1 reacted with all bladder carcinomas while 11.4.1. was negative in all cases. The mean uptake of AUA1 at 2, 24, and 48 h after the instillation (expressed as 10(3) x percentage of injected dose/g of tissue) was: 6.12 +/- 5.50 (SD), 1.70 +/- 2.57, 0.30 +/- 0.17 in the tumors and 0.32 +/- 0.50, 0.22 +/- 0.30, 0 in the nontumor areas, and for 11.4.1. it was: 0.075 +/- 0.075, 0.025 +/- 0.025 in the tumors and 0.30 +/- 0.42, 0.15 +/- 0.26 in the nontumor areas. The uptake of AUA1 by the tumors correlated with the tumor grade. There was no radioactivity in the blood at 2 h, and at 1, 2, and 3 days after the instillation. Our results indicate that intravesical administration of radiolabeled monoclonal antibody AUA1 targets selectively to tumor tissue without any significant normal tissue uptake. This finding might allow the development of a nontoxic and specific therapeutic approach for superficial bladder carcinoma.