Conjugation of an anti-B-cell lymphoma monoclonal antibody, LL2, to long-circulating drug-carrier lipid emulsions.

Long-circulating submicron lipid emulsions, stabilized with poly(ethylene glycol)-modified phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE), are promising drug carriers with substantial capacity for solubilization of lipophilic anticancer agents. This study describes the conjugation of the anti-B-cell lymphoma monoclonal antibody LL2 to the surface of lipid-emulsion globules by use of a novel poly(ethylene glycol)-based heterobifunctional coupling agent. The efficiency of coupling of LL2 to the lipid emulsion was 85% (approx.) and essentially independent of the LL2/emulsion particle ratio and amount of surface-bound PEG-PE. Results from sucrose-gradient centrifugation and Sepharose CL-4B gel filtration indicated stable binding of the antibody to the emulsion. The immunoreactivity of the emulsion-LL2 conjugates was tested with alkaline phosphatase-conjugated LL2 against a monoclonal anti-idiotype antibody, WN. The binding of the conjugates to WN increased with increasing surface density of LL2 up to 40 monoclonal antibodies/emulsion particle, and exceeded that for the free monoclonal antibody (approx. 20 molecules/particle). Results from competitive-binding ELISA were indicative of similar displacement curves for free LL2 and emulsion-LL2 conjugates. Direct cellular ELISA revealed similar binding of emulsion-LL2 complexes to three types of Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines, Raji, Ramos and Daudi. The results from this study indicate that emulsion-LL2 complexes might be a useful drug-carrier system for more specific delivery of anticancer drugs to B-cell malignancy.