“Affinity cocktails” of alpha-particle radionuclide antibody-conjugates for solid tumors

Introduction: Antibody-radioconjugates are key to targeted alpha-particle therapies for treating resistant solid tumors [1]. Alpha-particles cause complex DNA damage, making them impervious to resistance [2,3]. However, the limited tumor penetration of strongly binding antibodies combined with alpha-particles’ short range ( < 80μm), non-uniformly irradiate tumors, letting cancer cells escape therapy. Our “affinity-cocktails” comprise: (a) “High-affinity conjugates” that treat cells near vasculature; and (b) “low-affinity conjugates” that penetrate deeper; collectively irradiating the entire tumor.

Rajiv Nair – Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Pooja Hariharan – Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Mihalis Kavousanakis – Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece; Rohit Chaudhari – MSE Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Kathleen Gabrielson – Associate Professor, Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Yannis Kevrekidis – Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Stavroula Sofou – Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD