Therapeutic application of radiolabelled monoclonal antibody UJ13A in children with disseminated neuroblastoma - A phase 1 study

Heteroantisera to human ferritin radiolabelled with 131I have been used therapeutically in patients with Hodgkins disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Monoclonal antibodies with their high degree of specificity may also have therapeutic potential in targeting drugs, toxins or isotopes to tumours. This is despite a lack of absolute specificity for tumour tissue, as all reagents described to date also bind to certain normal tissue. Studies using monoclonal antibodies conjugated with low doses of either/sup 123/I or 131I have demonstrated the possibility of targeting antibodies to primary and metastatic tumour sites in patients with neuroblastoma. This study describes the use of 131I conjugated to monoclonal antibody UJ13A to ablate human neuroblastomas xenografted into nude mice and the results of a phase 1 study of the toxicity of the conjugate in patients with disseminated neuroblastoma