Effect of chemical deglycosylation of ricin A chain on the in vivo fate and cytotoxic activity of an immunotoxin composed of ricin A chain and anti-Thy 1.1 antibody.

The carbohydrate present on ricin A chain causes ricin A chain immunotoxins to be cleared rapidly in animals by the reticuloendothelial system. In an effort to overcome this problem we destroyed the carbohydrate on ricin A chain by treating it with a mixture of sodium metaperiodate and sodium cyanoborohydride and then linked the "deglycosylated" A chain to monoclonal anti-Thy 1.1 antibody. The deglycosylation procedure did not affect the ability of the A chain component of the immunotoxin to inhibit protein synthesis in a cell-free system or the capacity of the immunotoxin to inhibit protein synthesis in Thy-1.1 positive lymphoma cells in vitro. Immunotoxins prepared with deglycosylated A chain were cleared from the bloodstream of mice more slowly than native ricin A chain immunotoxins. The difference in the blood clearance rates of the two immunotoxins could be accounted for by a decreased entrapment of the deglycosylated ricin A chain immunotoxin by the liver. Both immunotoxins broke down in vivo with the appearance of free antibody in the bloodstream. The site of cleavage of the immunotoxin was possibly the liver because immunotoxins taken up by it rapidly became unreactive with antiricin but retained reactivity with anti-mouse immunoglobulin G suggesting that dissociation of the A chain from the antibody had occurred. The immunotoxins taken up by the liver were metabolized further and the acid insoluble radioactive metabolites gradually accumulated in the stomach, thyroid, and salivary gland. The deglycosylated ricin A chain immunotoxin should be a more effective antitumor agent in vivo because it is cleared from the blood more slowly and so has greater opportunity to localize within the tumor target.