Ls. Zuckier et al., Influence of affinity and antigen density on antibody localization in a modifiable tumor targeting model, CANCER RES, 60(24), 2000, pp. 7008-7013
A persistent, question in the field of antibody imaging and therapy is whet
her increased affinity is advantageous for the targeting of tumors. We have
addressed this issue by using a manipulatabte model system to investigate
the impact of affinity and antigen density on antibody localization. In vit
ro enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and bead-binding assays were carried
out using BSA conjugated with high and low densities (HD and LD, respective
ly) of the chemical hapten rho -azophenyl-arsonate as an antigen. Isotype-m
atched monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) 36-65 and 36-71, with identical epitope
specificity but 200-fold differences in affinity, were chosen as targeting
agents. The relative in vitro binding of 36-65 and 36-71 was compared with
an artificial "tumor'' model in vivo using antigen-substituted beads s.c.
implanted into SCID mice. Nonsubstituted BSA beads were implanted in the co
ntralateral groin as a nonspecific control. The efficacy of the targeting o
f [I-125]-labeled antibodies was assessed by the imaging of animals on a ga
mma-scintillation camera using quantitative region-of-interest image analys
is over the course of 2 weeks and by postmortem tissue counting. In vitro,
both antibodies bound well to the HD antigen, whereas only the high-affinit
y mAb 36-71 bound effectively to the LD antigen. In vivo, high-affinity mAb
36-71 bound appreciably to both LD and HD beads. In contrast, there was no
specific localization of low-affinity mAb 36-65 to LD antigen beads, altho
ugh the antibody did bind to the beads with the HD antigen. Whereas the hig
h-affinity mAb 36-71 increased its binding to HD beads throughout the 14 da
ys of observation, binding of the high affinity antibody to LD beads and of
the low affinity antibody to HD beads plateaued between 10-14 days. These
in vitro and in vivo findings demonstrate that the need for a high-affinity
antibody is dependent on the density of the target antigen. High-affinity
antibodies bind effectively even with a single antigen-Fab interaction, irr
espective of the antigen density. In contrast, low-affinity antibodies, bec
ause of weak individual antigen-Fab interactions, require the avidity confe
rred by divalent binding for effective attachment, which can only occur if
antigen density is above a certain threshold, An understanding of the diffe
rential behavior of high- and low-affinity antibodies and the impact of avi
dity is useful in predicting the binding of monovalent antibody fragments a
nd engineered antibody constructs and underlies the trend toward developmen
t of multivalent immunological moieties. Consideration of the relative dens
ity of the antigen on the tumor and the background tissues may enable and e
ven favor targeting with low-affinity antibodies in selected situations.