Antibody Fragments Used in Pre-Clinical Pancreatic Cancer Imaging

Researchers have shown that certain antibody fragments can be coupled with Zirconium, a Copper-based PET imaging agent, and a fluorescent imaging agent without impacting immunoreactivity, to target bladder and pancreatic cancer.

The research results indicated that rapid immunoPET (Positron Emission Tomography) or immunofluorescent imaging could be used to provide imaging results within one day, faster than other current methods.


The researchers from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK; New York, NY, USA) produced the F(ab')2 antibody fragments from MabVax Therapeutics’ (San Diego, CA, USA) HuMab-5B1 antibodies for use as a PET imaging agent, and as a radio-immunotherapy agent. MabVax Therapeutics specializes in developing and producing antibody-based clinical-stage oncology drugs.

David Hansen, CEO of MabVax Therapeutics, said, "We are grateful to Jason S. Lewis, PhD and his team for their continued pioneering work using the HuMab-5B1 platform. They are taking important steps in expanding the clinical utility of our HuMab-5B1 antibody, including (1) demonstrating that smaller fragments of our full-length antibody could provide significant advantages in speeding tumor imaging, (2) demonstrating the utility of our full length antibody with a new radio-immunotherapy approach, (3) helping MabVax to evaluate additional CA19-9 expressing cancers for which our antibody development program may have utility beyond our current focus on pancreatic cancer, and (4) completing investigations supporting our radio-immunotherapy product for which we plan to submit an Investigational New Drug Application later this year."

Related Links:
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
MabVax Therapeutics