Synthesis of novel bifunctional chelators and their use in preparing monoclonal antibody conjugates for tumor targeting.

Bifunctional derivatives of the chelating agents ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, in which a p-isothiocyanatobenzyl moiety is attached at the methylene carbon atom of one carboxymethyl arm, was synthesized by reductive alkylation of the relevant polyamine with (p-nitrophenyl)pyruvic acid followed by carboxymethylation, reduction of the nitro group, and reaction with thiophosgene. The resulting isothiocyanate derivatives reacted with monoclonal antibody B72.3 to give antibody-chelator conjugates containing 3 mol of chelator per mole of immunoglobulin, without significant loss of immunological activity. Such conjugates, labeled with the radioisotopic metal indium-111, selectively bound a human colorectal carcinoma implanted in nude mice when given intravenously. Uptake into normal tissues was comparable to or lower than that reported for analogous conjugates with known bifunctional chelators. It is concluded that substitution with a protein reactive group at this position in polyaminopolycarboxylate chelators does not alter the chelating properties of these molecules to a sufficient extent to adversely affect biodistribution and thus provides a general method for the synthesis of such chelators.