Uptake of boronated monoclonal antibodies by melanoma cells visualized by track etch autoradiography and electron energy loss spectroscopy

The monoclonal antibody (MAb) NKI-C3 (Netherlands Cancer Institute) is a murine IgG1 known to react with a formalin resistant antigen expressed by more than 95% of human melanomas. In principle, it can be used in the diagnosis of tissue sections for the presence of melanocytes, and with the appropriate level of boron labelling, this antibody could also be used for NCT of melanoma, provided its specificity is not impaired by the labelling process. The present study involves the use of two imaging techniques: first, α-track etch autoradiography to determine the specificity of the MAb after boronation, and second, electron energy loss spectroscopy to obtain information at the subcellular level concerning the localization of the boron label