Monoclonal antibodies reactive with distinct domains of the neu oncogene-encoded p185 molecule exert synergistic anti-tumor effects in vivo.

The neu oncogene encodes a 185,000 dalton transmembrane glycoprotein, p185. The current study examined the effects of p185-specific monoclonal antibody administration on the tumorigenic growth of neu-transformed NIH3T3 cells implanted into nude mice. Treatment with anti-p185 monoclonal antibodies of the IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b subclasses was able to profoundly inhibit the growth of neu-transformed cells. Furthermore, while none of these antibodies individually was able to cause complete eradication of tumors, the administration of mixtures of antibodies reactive with two distinct regions on the p185 molecule resulted in synergistic anti-tumor effects and complete eradication of tumors in a substantial fraction of the treated animals. The effect was oncogene specific, since the growth of ras transformed cells was not influenced by anti p185 antibodies. These results demonstrate that antibodies reactive with multiple domains of a tumor antigen can exert synergistic anti-tumor effects, and suggest that therapy with monoclonal antibodies specific for the neu oncogene product may play a role in cancer treatment.