Immunoscintigraphy with a Technetium-99m labelled anti -epithelial growth factor receptor antibody in patients with non -small cell lung cancer

Anticancer Res. 2001 Sep-Oct;21(5):3571-4. Immunoscintigraphy with a technetium-99m labelled anti-epithelial growth factor receptor antibody in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Schillaci O, Danieli R, Picardi V, Bagni O, Di Loreto M, Scopinaro F. SourceDepartment of Biopathology and Diagnostic Imaging, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. oschil@tiscalinet.it Abstract BACKGROUND: A variety of human tumours, including non-small cell lung cancer, overexpress epithelial growth factor (EGF) receptors. In this study we evaluated the feasibility of immunoscintigraphy with a technetium-99m-labelled monoclonal antibody directed towards the EGF receptor (MINT5). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The labelling with technetium-99m was performed using the glucoheptonate-iminothiolane method. Eight patients with non-small cell lung cancer were i.v. injected 740 MBq of MINT5. Neither side-effects, nor toxicity, nor HAMA response were observed. Each patient was submitted to total body planar images in anterior and posterior projections at 1-2 hours and at 4-6 hours after the injection. RESULTS: Uptake of MINT5 was mainly visible in liver, spleen and bone marrow; it proved stable in vivo. The primary lung cancer was imaged in 7 out of 8 patients and metastases were detected in 3 out of 3 cases. CONCLUSION: MINT5 is a safe and promising radiopharmaceutical for in vivo localization and biological characterization of non-small cell lung cancer. PMID:11848525[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]