Monoclonal antibodies and neuroblastoma

Several antineuroblastoma monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) have been described and two have been used in radioimmunoimaging and radioimmunotherapy in patients. MoAb 3F8 is a murine IgG3 antibody specific for the ganglioside GD2. Radioiodine-labeled 3F8 has been shown to specifically target human neuroblastoma in patients, and radioimmunoimaging with this agent has provided consistently high uptakes with tumor-to-background ratios of greater than or equal to 10:1. Radioimmunotherapy has been attempted with both MoAb 3F8 and MoAb UJ13A, and although encouraging results have been obtained, dosimetry data and tissue dose response information for these agents is lacking, which impedes the development of such therapy. 124I, a positron emitter, can be used with 3F8 in positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to provide dosimetry information for radioimmunotherapy. The tumor radiation dose response from radiolabeled MoAb also can be followed with PET images with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) scanning of neuroblastoma tumors. Results to date indicate that radioimmunoimaging has clinical use in the diagnosis of neuroblastoma and the potential for radioimmunotherapy for this cancer remains high.