Preclinical Evaluation of the Novel Monoclonal Antibody H6-11 for Prostate Cancer Imaging

The biological properties of the novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) H6-11 and its potential utility for oncological imaging studies were evaluated using in vitro and in vivo assays. Immunoreactivity of H6-11 to the human prostate cancer PC-3 cell line and solid tumor xenografts was initially demonstrated using immunofluorescence staining; the specificity of H6-11 for prostate cancer was further evaluated using a commercial array of human prostate cancer and normal tissue samples (n=49) in which H6-11 detected 95% of prostate adenocarcinomas. The Kd value of 61.7±30 nM was determined using 125I-labeled H6-11. Glycosylation analysis suggested the antigenic epitope of the glycan is an O-linked β-N-acetylglucoside (O-GlcNAc) group. Imaging studies of PC-3 tumor-bearing mice were performed using both optical imaging with NIR fluorescent dye-labeled H6-11 and microPET imaging with 89Zr-labeled H6-11. These in vivo studies revealed that the labeled probes accumulated in PC-3 tumors 48-72 h postinjection, although significant retention in liver was also observed. By 120 h postinjection, the tumors were still evident, although the liver showed significant clearance. These studies suggest that the mAb H6-11 may be a useful tool to detect prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo.