Effect of endogenous biotin on the applications of streptavidin and biotin in mice.

The use of streptavidin-conjugated antibody to pretarget tumors in animals and patients, prior to administration of radiolabeled biotin, has provided encouraging results, in part because of the high affinity of biotin for streptavidin and the rapid whole-body clearance of biotin. However, binding of endogenous biotin to streptavidin may interfere with the clinical potential of this approach. This report evaluates the effect of endogenous biotin on an antibody-streptavidin conjugate in a mouse tumor model. Tumored nude mice were depleted of endogenous biotin by sequential intraperitoneal injections of streptavidin. The assay of serum biotin levels indicated less than 0.5 ng of biotin per mL of serum in treated mice versus 4 ng per mL in untreated animals. Flow cytometric analysis was used on single-cell suspensions of tumor from animals receiving streptavidin-conjugated IgG to detect the presence of the antibody on the cell membrane (with fluoroisothiocyanate-conjugated goat anti-mouse antibody), and to detect biotin binding sites on streptavidin (with biotin-phycoerythrin). Both treated and untreated mice demonstrated the presence of antibody on tumor cells through 48 h postadministration, but only in treated animals were biotin binding sites observed. These results in the mouse model suggest that the small concentration of streptavidin delivered to a tumor via a specific antibody may be saturated with endogenous biotin and therefore not able to be targeted subsequently with radiolabeled biotin.