G. Dubowchik, R. Firestone, L. Padilla
Jun 18, 2002
Citations
10
Influential Citations
393
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Bioconjugate chemistry
Abstract
The anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) has been linked to chimeric BR96, an internalizing monoclonal antibody that binds to a Lewis(y)-related, tumor-associated antigen, through two lysosomally cleavable dipeptides, Phe-Lys and Val-Cit, giving immunoconjugates 72 and 73. A self-immolative p-aminobenzyloxycarbonyl (PABC) spacer between the dipeptides and the DOX was required for rapid and quantitative generation of free drug. DOX release from model substrate Z-Phe-Lys-PABC-DOX 49 was 30-fold faster than from Z-Val-Cit-PABC-DOX 42 with the cysteine protease cathepsin B alone, but rates were identical in a rat liver lysosomal preparation suggesting the participation of more than one enzyme. Conjugates 72 and 73 showed rapid and near quantitative drug release with cathepsin B and in a lysosomal preparation, while demonstrating excellent stability in human plasma. Against tumor cell lines with varying levels of BR96 expression, both conjugates showed potent, antigen-specific cytotoxic activity, suggesting that they will be effective in delivering DOX selectively to antigen-expressing carcinomas.