Radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies against Reed-Sternberg cells for in vivo imaging of Hodgkin's disease by immunoscintigraphy.

Abstract

The Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg (HRS-1) monoclonal antibody (Mab) was raised against the L 428 Hodgkin's disease (HD) cell line. The HRS-1 Mab was labeled with radioactive iodine and injected into six patients with Hodgkin's disease of varied histological subtypes for immunoscintigraphic imaging. In five patients, the HRS-1 Mab was labeled with 131I; a control anti-alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) Mab was injected simultaneously in two of these five cases. Four of five patients had a positive scan (nodal, splenic and hepatic involvements), the results in the fifth patient being equivocal. In the sixth patient, the HRS-1 Mab was labeled with 123I in order to utilize tomoscintigraphy instead of linear scintigraphy. Although the immunoscintigraphy (IS) was performed secondary to effective chemotherapy, images of bony disease were demonstrated. These preliminary results demonstrate that IS with iodine-labeled HRS-1 Mab is feasible and informative in Hodgkin's lymphoma. The real clinical value and the specificity of IS deserves confirmation in a larger series of patients. Several techniques such as the use of Fab or F(ab')2 fragments should further improve the results.