Immunoscintigraphy in the detection of tuberculosis with radiolabelled antibody fragment against Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin: a preliminary study in a rabbit model.

Immunoscintigraphy with radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies is widely used to detect solid tumours, but only a few trials have been carried out concerning the specific in vivo localization of an inflammatory process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the detectability of tuberculous foci utilizing this method with radiolabelled bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-specific F(ab')2 in rabbits. All of the tuberculous lesions (n = 8) were clearly visualized on serial scintigraphy for up to 48 h after injection of the antibody. Immunohistochemical and Ziel-Neelson staining of the tuberculous lesions confirmed the presence of the tuberculous antigens and bacilli. It failed to demonstrate any sustained retention of the BCG-specific antibody fragment in the control group with syphilitic orchitis (n = 2). Therefore, the specific in vivo localization of tuberculosis is feasible by immunoscintigraphy.