The fate of antibodies and their radiolabels bound to tumor cells in vitro: The effect of cross-linking at the cell surface and of anti-idiotype antibodies

Summary In order to obtain rapid blood clearance of circulating antibodies (Ab) at a desired time, cross-linking reagents such as second Ab are often employed. Such reagents will generally bind to Ab located at the tumor site as well as free Ab, and we therefore investigated whether the cross-linking of Ab bound to the surface of tumor cells affects the processing of those Ab. Cross-linking was induced in various ways: a polyclonal second Ab rabbit anti-(mouse IgG)], a monoclonal rat anti-(mouse IgG constant region) Ab, and streptavidin used in conjunction with a biotinylated first Ab. Processing was followed for 3 days, to allow nearly all of the bound Ab to reach its ultimate fate. Results depended strongly on the particular first Ab used. Two basic effects were observed. First, the second Ab efficiently prevented the early dissociation of intact Ab from the cell; once the second Ab bound, there was virtually no dissociation of the primary Ab bound to the cells. For most Ab, where only a small proportion of bound Ab dissociated intact, this effect was relatively small. However, for an unusual Ab, where the majority dissociated intact (L6) the effect of a second Ab in prolonging Ab retention by the cell was dramatic. Second, cross-linking sometimes resulted in markedly accelerated internalization and degradation of the bound Ab, coupled with the release of degradation products into the medium. This process resulted in much shorter retention of the radioisotope by the cell. If a residualizing radiolabel was used,¹²⁵I-dilactitoltyramine, which is probably trapped within lysosomes after Ab catabolism, the effect of the second Ab in accelerating loss from the cell was largely prevented. We also tested anti-idiotype Ab as cross-linking reagents. In addition to testing anti-idiotype Ab known to react with the cell-bound primary Ab, we also tested antiidiotype Ab not expected to bind to cell-bound Ab, initially as a negative control. Unexpectedly, all anti-indiotype Ab tested induced rapid release of the primary Ab from the cell. This effect was similar to the effect of a large excess of unlabeled Ab, and we attribute it to the blocking of the free binding site of a wobbling Ab, which prevents its rebinding to a second antigen molecule. We conclude that the use of selected anti-idiotype Ab to clear circulating Ab, while not reacting with cell-bound Ab, must be done cautiously. These effects must be taken into consideration in developing procedures that utilize second Ab or other crosslinking agents.