Paclitaxel improved anti-L1CAM lutetium-177 radioimmunotherapy in an ovarian cancer xenograft model

BACKGROUND Today's standard treatment of advanced-stage ovarian cancer, including surgery followed by a paclitaxel-platinum-based chemotherapy, is limited in efficacy. Recently, we could show that radioimmunotherapy (RIT) with (177)Lu-labelled anti-L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) monoclonal antibody chCE7 is effective in ovarian cancer therapy. We investigated if the efficacy of anti-L1CAM RIT can be further improved by its combination with paclitaxel (PTX). METHODS In vitro cell viability and cell cycle arrest of human ovarian cancer cells were assessed upon different treatment conditions. For therapy studies, nude mice (n = 8) were injected subcutaneously with IGROV1 human ovarian carcinoma cells and received a single dose of 6 MBq (177)Lu-DOTA-chCE7 alone or in combination with 600 μg PTX (31.6 mg/kg). Tumour growth delay and survival were determined. To investigate whether PTX can influence the tumour uptake of the radioimmunoconjugates (RICs), a biodistribution study (n = 4) and SPECT/CT images were acquired 120 h post injections of 2 MBq (177)Lu-DOTA-chCE7 alone or in combination with 600 μg PTX. RESULTS Lu-DOTA-chCE7 in combination with PTX revealed a significantly decreased cell viability of ovarian carcinoma cells in vitro and was effective in a synergistic manner (combination index < 1). PTX increased the RIT efficacy by arresting cells in the radiosensitive G2/M phase of the cell cycle 24 h post treatment start. In vivo combination therapy including (177)Lu-DOTA-chCE7 and PTX resulted in a significantly prolonged overall survival (55 days vs. 18 days/PTX and 29 days/RIT), without weight loss and/or signs of toxicity. Biodistribution studies revealed no significant difference in tumour uptakes of (177)Lu-DOTA-chCE7 72 h post injection regardless of an additional PTX administration. CONCLUSIONS Combination of anti-L1CAM (177)Lu-RIT with PTX is a more effective therapy resulting in a prolonged overall survival of human ovarian carcinoma-bearing nude mice compared with either monotherapy. The combination is promising for future clinical applications.