title: Interferon-alpha induced changes in CEA expression in patients with CEA-producing tumours.
abstract: Enhancement of antigen expression could result in improved tumour targeting using antibodies directed to the antigen. In this study we performed radioimmunoscintigraphy using 99mTc-CEA-Scan to analyse the effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in enhancing the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in ten patients with CEA-producing tumours. Furthermore, we investigated the feasibility of a future therapeutic study with this antibody fragment labelled with rhenium-186. Although IFN-alpha gave rise to a significant increase in antibody uptake by the tumour, the absolute antibody uptake in the tumour appeared to be poor, with a mean of 0.475% of injected dose (ID) in the tumour before IFN-alpha, rising to 0.562% ID in the tumour after IFN-alpha. Pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrated no significant alterations after IFN-alpha. In conclusion, the administration of IFN-alpha is an attractive way to achieve enhanced tumour targeting, although the increase was of little clinical significance in this patient population and using this antibody fragment.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Verhaar-Langereis
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bongers
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de Klerk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Blijham
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Zonnenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D016719:Radioimmunodetection / Q000379:methods*; D013667:Technetium
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D013667:Technetium