J. Balthasar et Hl. Fung, UTILIZATION OF ANTIDRUG ANTIBODY FRAGMENTS FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF INTRAPERITONEAL DRUG-THERAPY - STUDIES USING DIGOXIN AS A MODEL-DRUG, The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 268(2), 1994, pp. 734-739
The direct administration of chemotherapeutic agents into the peritone
al cavity has been investigated as a method to treat cancers residing
within the peritoneum. The benefits of i.p. drug administration are li
mited, however, by the systemic toxicity of antineoplastic drugs which
diffuse out of the peritoneum and into the general circulation. We pr
opose that antidrug antibody fragments may be useful in binding chemot
herapeutics in the general circulation, thereby reducing the systemic
tissue exposure and toxicity resulting from such i.p. therapy. Inasmuc
h as antibody fragments directed against antineoplastic agents are not
available, we tested our hypothesis by using i.v. administered ovine
antidigoxin Fab fragments and determined their ability to limit digoxi
n tissue exposure and toxicity in mice after an i.p. digoxin injection
. The rate of digoxin disappearance from the peritoneal cavity and the
fraction of digoxin unbound in the peritoneal cavity were also assess
ed to determine the effect of the antibody fragments on peritoneal exp
osure. Our results showed that the antidigoxin antibody fragments can
greatly decrease digoxin tissue exposure and toxicity without affectin
g peritoneal exposure, unbound fraction of digoxin in the peritoneum o
r peritoneal digoxin disappearance rate. Although the utility of drug-
binding antibodies and antibody fragments for the treatment of drug in
toxication is well known, these results demonstrated the potential abi
lity of antidrug antibody fragments to improve the site-specificity of
drug therapy.