Abstract.
Enhancement of antigen expression could result in improved tumour targeting using antibodies directed to the antigen. In this study we performed radioimmunoscintigraphy using 99mTc-CEA-Scan to analyse the effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) in enhancing the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in ten patients with CEA-producing tumours. Furthermore, we investigated the feasibility of a future therapeutic study with this antibody fragment labelled with rhenium-186. Although IFN-α gave rise to a significant increase in antibody uptake by the tumour, the absolute antibody uptake in the tumour appeared to be poor, with a mean of 0.475% of injected dose (ID) in the tumour before IFN-α, rising to 0.562% ID in the tumour after IFN-α. Pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrated no significant alterations after IFN-α. In conclusion, the administration of IFN-α is an attractive way to achieve enhanced tumour targeting, although the increase was of little clinical significance in this patient population and using this antibody fragment.
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Received 18 August and in revised form 27 October 1999
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Verhaar-Langereis, M., Bongers, V., de Klerk, J. et al. Interferon-alpha induced changes in CEA expression in patients with CEA-producing tumours. Eur J Nucl Med 27, 209–213 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002590050029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002590050029