INCREASED ANTITUMOR EFFECT OF NEOCARZINOSTATIN CONJUGATED TO MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY-A7 ON HUMAN PANCREATIC-CARCINOMA GRAFTED IN NUDE-MICE

Despite the introduction of several dozen antineoplastic drugs, conven tional chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer remains disappointing. Recen t research has been directed toward the use of monoclonal antibody-dru g conjugates for solid tumors. In this study, we used the monoclonal a ntibody A7 to target the antitumor drug neocarzinostatin (NCS) to panc reatic cancer cells. Neocarzinostatin was conjugated covalently to mon oclonal antibody A7 (A7-NCS). This conjugate was administered intraven ously twice a week for three weeks to nude mice bearing human pancreat ic cancer xenografts. A human pancreatic carcinoma cell line, HPC-YS, with which monoclonal antibody A7 had been shown previously to react s pecifically, served as the source of the pancreatic tumor cells that w ere inoculated subcutaneously into the nude mice. The A7-NCS conjugate had a greater antitumor effect than free NCS. The observed antitumor effect increased in a dose dependent manner. These results suggest tha t the monoclonal antibody A7 may be a suitable carrier of anti-cancer drugs for immunotargeting chemotherapy in human pancreatic carcinoma.