Approaches to radiolabeling of antibodies for diagnosis and therapy of cancer.

The development of monoclonal antibodies of high affinity and selectivity for tumor antigens has supported the development of radiolabeled antibodies for diagnostic localization and targeted delivery of therapeutic radionuclides. Several radionuclide chelating agent systems have been developed for indium-111 and technetium-99m that have shown good sensitivity and specificity for tumor detection in patients. Feasibility for therapy has been shown in animal models and a few patient studies with iodine-131 and yttrium-90. This review covers selection of radionuclides and chemistry of antibody radiolabeling.