Novel therapeutic approaches are much needed for the treatment of osteosarcoma. Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) and radioimmunotherapy (RIT) are promising approaches that deliver therapeutic radiation precisely to the tumor site. We have previously developed a fully human antibody, named IF3, that binds to insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor (IGF2R). IF3 was used in TRT to effectively inhibit tumor growth in osteosarcoma preclinical models. However, IF3’s relatively short half-life in mice raised the need for improvement. We generated an Fc-engineered version of IF3, termed IF3δ, with amino acid substitutions known to enhance antibody half-life in human serum. In this study, we confirmed the specific binding of IF3δ to IGF2R with nanomolar affinity, similar to wild-type IF3. Additionally, IF3δ demonstrated binding to human and mouse neonatal Fc receptors (FcRn), indicating the potential for FcRn-mediated endocytosis and recycling. Biodistribution studies in mice showed a higher accumulation of IF3δ in the spleen and bone than wild-type IF3, likely attributed to abnormal spleen expression of IGF2R in mice. Therefore, the pharmacokinetics data from mouse xenograft models may not precisely reflect their behavior in canine and human patients. However, the findings suggest both IF3 and IF3δ as promising options for the RIT of osteosarcoma.

CCR8 chemokine receptor is a selective marker of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells (ti-Tregs) which interfere with the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy (ICI) in many types of cancer. Eliminating CCR8+ ti-Tregs dramatically improves the results of subsequent ICI. We have recently reported using 225Actinium-labeled anti-CCR8 IgG for killing CCR8+ ti-Tregs in murine colorectal tumors which synergized with subsequent anti-CTLA4 ICI. Here, we aimed to compare the in vivo behavior of anti-CCR8 full-sized IgG and its Fab fragments to select the best antibody format for the pre-clinical development of this combination modality. Anti-CCR8 Fab fragments were generated by papain digest of the whole IgG. The whole IgG and Fab were conjugated to bifunctional chelating agent DOTA and labeled with 111Indium (¹¹¹In). MC8 and CT6 murine colorectal tumor-bearing C57Bl6 and Balb/c mice, respectively, were administered ¹¹¹In-DOTA-IgG or ¹¹¹In-DOTA-Fab and imaged with microSPECT/CT at 2–72 h post-injection. A biodistribution was performed after the last imaging time point. Both ¹¹¹In-DOTA-IgG and ¹¹¹In-DOTA-Fab demonstrated high tumor uptake in both MC38 and CT26 tumors, with ¹¹¹In-DOTA-IgG uptake being significantly higher from the 24 h time point and onwards. ¹¹¹In-DOTA-Fab also exhibited pronounced kidney uptake which persisted even at 72 h. The kidney clearance and retention of ¹¹¹In-DOTA-Fab might represent a problem during therapy employing 225Actimium or other long-lived therapeutic radionuclides by potentially causing a dose-limiting kidney toxicity. This imaging/biodistribution evaluation not only determined that full-size anti-CCR8 IgG is the optimal antibody format for pre-clinical development but also informed on the timing of immunotherapy administration in future radioimmunotherapy and immunotherapy combination studies.