ABSTRACT
The development of humanized monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) with Lutetium-177 ([177Lu]Lu3+) has brought a paradigm shift in the arena of targeted therapy of various cancers. [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Rituximab and [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Trastuzumab have gained prominence due to their improved therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of lymphoma and breast cancer. The clinical dose formulation of these radiolabeled MAbs, using low specific activity [177Lu]LuCl3, requires extensive optimization of the radiolabeling protocol. The present study merits the development of a single protocol which has been optimized for conjugation of Rituximab and Trastuzumab with p-NCS-benzyl-DOTA and further radiolabeling these immunoconjugates (ICs) with low specific activity [177Lu]LuCl3. Herein, we report a consistent and reproducible protocol for clinical dose formulations of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Rituximab and [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Trastuzumab (~9.25 GBq each, equivalent to ~2 patient doses) with radiochemical yield (RCY) between 84 and 86% and radiochemical purities (RCP) >99%. The in vitro stabilities of both these radioimmunoconjugates (RICs) were retained up to 120 h post-radiolabeling, upon storage with L-ascorbic acid as stabilizer (concentration: ~ 220-240 µg/37MBq) at -20 °C. The ready-to-use formulation of clinical doses[177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Rituximab and [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Trastuzumab has been successfully achieved by employing a single optimized protocol. While [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Rituximab has exhibited a high degree of localization in retroperitoneal nodal mass of refractory lymphoma patient, high uptake of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-Trastuzumab has been observed in metastatic breast carcinoma patient with multiple skeletal metastases.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Immunoconjugates , Lymphoma , Humans , Female , Rituximab/therapeutic use , Trastuzumab/therapeutic use , Radiopharmaceuticals/therapeutic use , Immunoconjugates/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/drug therapyABSTRACT
Background: The overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is commonly associated with metastatic breast cancer and epithelial ovarian cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Trastuzumab as an anti-HER2 agent for the metastatic breast and epithelial ovarian cancer. However, Trastuzumab has severe limitations in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer associated with ligand-dependent dimerization of HER2 receptor at the extracellular domain-II (ECD-II) region. The therapeutic approach in combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab is found to be effective in preventing HER2 dimerization at the ECD-II region. The radioimmunotherapeutic approach, utilizing both these anti-HER2 agents (trastuzumab/pertuzumab), radiolabeled with [177Lu]Lu3+, has proved to be clinically efficacious with promising potential. Toward this, the formulation for clinical doses of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-pertuzumab has been optimized using medium specific activity (0.81 GBq/µg) [177Lu]LuCl3. Materials and Methods: Preconcentrated pertuzumab was conjugated with p-NCS-benzyl-DOTA. Purified DOTA-benzyl-pertuzumab conjugate was radiolabeled with carrier-added [177Lu]LuCl3. Quality control parameters were evaluated for the [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-pertuzumab. In vivo biodistribution was carried out at different time points postadministration. Specific cell binding, immunoreactivity, and internalization were investigated by using SKOV3 and SKBR3 cells. Results: In this study, the authors reported a consistent and reproducible protocol for clinical dose formulations of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-pertuzumab, with a radiochemical yield of 86.67% ± 1.03% and radiochemical purity (RCP) of 99.36% ± 0.36% (n = 10). Preclinical cell binding studies of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-pertuzumab revealed specific binding with SKOV3 and SKBR3 cells up to 24.4% ± 1.4% and 23.2% ± 0.8%, respectively. The uptakes in SKOV3- and SKBR3-xenografted tumor in severe combined immunodeficiency mice were observed to be 25.9% ± 0.8% and 25.2% ± 1.2% ID/g at 48 and 120 h postinjection, respectively. Conclusions: A protocol was optimized for the preparation of ready-to-use clinical dose of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-pertuzumab, in hospital radiopharmacy settings. The retention of RCP of the radiopharmaceutical, on storage in saline and serum, at -20°C, up to 120 h postradiolabeling, confirmed its in vitro stability.