Abstract
We investigated in vitro and in vivo the relative contribution of targeted and non-targeted effects in the therapeutic efficacy against tumors of antibodies radiolabeled with alpha particle (212Pb, 213Bi) or Auger electron (125I) emitters. Targeted effects occurs in cells directly crossed by ionising particles while non-targeted effects are measured in cells neighbouring irradiated cells. Targeted effects were measured in vitro in cells exposed to antibodies radiolabeled with alpha or Auger emitters (donor cells) while non-targeted effects were investigated in recipient cells. Recipient cells consisted of cells not exposed to radiolabeled-mAbs, but grown in medium previously incubated for 2h with donor cells. We showed that the relative contribution of targeted effects versus non-targeted effects was higher during alpha RIT than Auger RIT. Alpha particles produced 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX foci in donor cells that could be differentiated in large, medium and small foci, while only small foci were observed in recipient cells. We assumed that large foci would correspond to locally multiply damage sites in DNA. Conversely, Auger RIT led predominantly to non-targeted effects compared with targeted effects. Use of radical scavengers showed that oxidative stress was involved in non-targeted effects. In vivo, we showed in athymic nude mice bearing tumor xenograft that non-targeted effects were also involved and participated to therapeutic efficacy of radiolabeled antibodies. These results indicate that although producing single DNA lesion, non-targeted effects can contribute to the therapeutic efficacy of mAbs radiolabeled with alpha particle or Auger electron emitters. These findings are particularly relevant for targeted therapy in which vectors cannot gain access to every tumor cell.