Cytotoxicity of PAI2, C595 and Herceptin vectors labeled with the alpha-emitting radioisotope Bismuth-213 for ovarian cancer cell monolayers and clusters

The vectors PAI2, C595 and Herceptin target the membrane-bound uPA, MUC1 and HER2 antigens expressed by cancer cells, respectively. The expression of these receptors was tested in the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3; MUC-1 was strongly expressed (3+), uPA moderately expressed (2+), but HER2 was negative (−). The α-emitting radionuclide Bismuth-213 was chelated with these targeting vectors to form alpha conjugates (ACs), the cytotoxicity of which were tested with OVCAR-3 cells. The PAI2 and C595 ACs are highly cytotoxic to the ovarian monolayer cancer cells and cell clusters in a concentration-dependent fashion and cause morphological changes of treated cancer cells, inducing apoptosis. These ACs are potential candidates for the control of ovarian cancer at the minimum residual disease (MRD) stage.