Human polyclonal immunoglobulin labelled with technetium-99m via NHS-MAG3: a comparison of radiochemical behavior and biological efficacy with other labelling methods.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the radiochemical behavior, biological distribution, and localization in infection sites in mice of a human polyclonal immunoglobulin (HIG) labelled with 99mTc by a novel MAG3-labelling method. The resulting [99mTc]MAG3-HIG was compared with [99mTc]HIG preparations radiolabelled directly via 2-mercaptoethanol (2-Me) or stannous ion (Sn) reduction and indirectly via 2-iminothiolane (2-Im) conjugation. All preparations showed similar UV and radioactivity HPLC profile to that of native HIG except for 2-Im-HIG, which showed aggregates. The stabilities of the label to challenge with cysteine were similar for all the preparations. By nondenaturing SDS-PAGE, all preparations other than MAG3-HIG showed evidence of lower molecular weight fragments. The tissue distribution 4 and 24 h after intravenous administration of the four preparations were compared in mice previously administered with an isolate of Staphylococcus aureus in one thigh. The pharmacokinetics varied among the different preparations. When prepared via 2-Me, Sn, and 2-Im, both blood clearance and urinary excretion were faster than that of labelled MAG3-HIG. The absolute uptake in the infected thigh at 24 h was significantly higher for HIG labelled via MAG3 and 2-Me vs. the remaining methods. The infected thigh/normal thigh radioactivity ratios were similar at both time points for labelled HIG prepared via 2-Me, 2-Im, and NHS-MAG, methods but was significantly lower at 24 h for HIG prepared via Sn. The radioactive HPLC profiles of serum at 4 and 24 h were similar to that of the radiolabelled injectates. Based on these data we conclude that each radiolabelled HIG preparation studied showed increased localization in infectious foci although [99Tc]MAG3-HIG showed superior radiochemical and biological characteristics under the conditions of this investigation.