Enhanced in vivo targeting of an asymmetric bivalent hapten to double-antigen-positive mouse B cells with monoclonal antibody conjugate cocktails.

Abstract

In order to target specifically double-Ag-positive cells in vivo, we synthesized chemically two mAb conjugates with specificities for both an allelic murine B cell-surface Ag and for a synthetic hapten. One conjugate was designed for its specificities for I-Ek and for N-epsilon-(2,4-DNP)-amino-caproate, and the other one for its reactivity to Lyb-8.2 and to indium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetate. A radiolabeled tracer, containing both the N-epsilon-(2,4-DNP)-amino-caproate and the indium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetate haptens, was obtained by reacting diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid dianhydride with mono-[N-epsilon-(2,4-DNP)-amino-caproyl]-tyrosyl-lysine and labeling with indium-111. Mice from various strains (CBA/N: I-Ek+, Lyb-8.2+; AKR/N: I-Ek+, Lyb-8.2-; BALB/c: I-Ek-, Lyb-8.2+; and DBA/2: I-Ek-, Lyb-8.2-) were given simultaneous i.v. injections of microgram amounts of less than anti-[N-epsilon-(2,4-DNP)-amino-caproate], anti-I-Ek greater than and of [anti-(indium-diethylene-triaminepentaacetate), anti-Lyb-8.2] antibody conjugates and picomole amounts of the tracer. As expected, specific uptake of the tracer by the spleen was observed in strains where spleen cells expressed at least one Ag (CBA/N, AKR/N, and BALB/c). Furthermore, spleen cells from the double-Ag-positive mouse strain (CBA/N), when compared with spleen cells from single-positive mouse strains, exhibited a significantly higher uptake of the bivalent hapten. This specificity for double-Ag-positive cells, it is suggested, occurs through the formation of stable complexes between both cell-surface Ag, both conjugates, and the asymmetric bivalent hapten. The use of such asymmetric bivalent haptens, together with matched (anti-hapten, anti-cell) antibody conjugates, is proposed as a general method for increasing the in vivo specificity of immunoimaging and radioimmunotherapy.