Binding Properties of Monoclonal Antibodies against Human Fragment D-Dimer of Cross-Linked Fibrin to Human Plasma Clots in an In Vivo Model in Rabbits

Abstract

SummaryTwo (MA-15C5 and MA-8D3) out of approximately 500 monoclonal antibodies, obtained by fusion of P3X63-Ag8-6.5.3 myeloma cells with spleen cells of mice immunized with purified fragment D-dimer from human fibrin, demonstrated a more than 1,000-fold higher affinity for fragment D-dimer than for native fibrinogen. MA-15C5 was directed against a neoantigenic determinant only expressed in fragment D-dimer. MA-8D3 reacted equally well with fragment D-dimer of crosslinked fibrin and with fragment D of non-crosslinked fibrin but not with fragment D of fibrinogen. Both monoclonal antibodies did not crossreact with rabbit fibrin and its degradation products.The binding of 125I-labeled Fab fragments to human plasma clots, introduced and aged for 1 hr in the jugular vein of heparinized rabbits was studied. Following injection of an equimolar mixture of Fab fragments derived from MA-15C5 and MA-8D3, the clot to blood ratios of radioactivity increased from 3.2 ± 1.2(mean ± SD) at 4 hr to 7.2 ± 1.4 at 17 hr. The binding of Fab fragments of MA-15C5 and MA-8D3 was independent of the age (1 to 72hrs) of the clot and of heparin anticoagulation and was only slightly decreased (by 20%) in the presence of circulating human fibrinogen (90 mg/kg body weight) and of human crosslinked fibrin degradation products at a plasma concentration of 10 pg/ml. The binding of Fab fragments of MA-15C5 and MA-8D3 to occlusive human plasma clots in the femoral artery of rabbits was comparable to that of the non-occlusive human plasma clots in the jugular vein. The Fab fragments of MA-15C5 and MA-8D3, labeled with 123I to a specific activity of 10 μCi/pg were injected intravenously (3 μg/kg) in 72 rabbits with a nonocclusive 0.2 ml human plasma clot in the jugular vein and in 7 control rabbits that underwent the surgical procedure without clot formation. Total body scans performed at hourly intervals revealed a higher relative increase in gamma counts over the thrombus region in the group with thrombus as compared to controls: at 6 hr 54 ± 18 vs 16 ± 13% (mean ± SEM, p <0.1) and at12 hrs 35 ± 11 vs –7 ± 12 (p <0.05). The vein segment to blood ratios of 123I at 24 hrs were 6.6 ± 2.4 in the group with clot and 1.5 to 0.7 in the control group (p <0.01). We conclude that these Fab fragments may have a sufficiently high fibrin-affinity to allow in vivo thrombus localization by external scanning.