Utilisation of tracer monoclonal antibodies for the immunoscintigraphic detection of human colorectal cancers

Two monoclonal antibodies, 17-1A and 19-9, with recognized human gastrointestinal cancers in cell cultures, were labeled with iodine 131 for immunoscintigraphic application. With the intact 131I-17-1A antibody, 21 out of 35 (60%) primary or secondary colorectal cancer sites were visualized, whereas all 21 nonepitheliomatous colic cancer sites or noncolic cancer sites were negative. With F(ab')2 fragments of the 19-9 antibody, 18 out of 27 (67%) colorectal cancer sites were positive. With both radioantibodies, the bestly contrasted tumor images were late, 4 to 5 days after injection. A study with paired-label technique, associating a specific iodine-131-labeled antibody with a non-specific iodine-125-labeled immunoglobulin, demonstrated, that tumor uptake was indeed specific for the 17-1A or 19-9 antibody in tumor and normal colon fragments obtained during operations on 4 patients. A preliminary prospective study showed that only immunoscintigraphy was able to confirm and localize a recurrence of rectal cancer in one patient. A larger series will be necessary to validate the clinical benefit of the technique, as compared with the results of other diagnostic techniques, before immunoscintigraphy can be proposed for routine clinical use