Comparison of the Effectiveness of IgG Antibody versus F(ab') Antibody Fragment in CTLA4-Targeted Near-Infrared Photoimmunotherapy.

Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a novel cancer treatment modality that utilizes antibody-photoabsorber conjugates (APCs) and selectively kills target cells after irradiation with NIR light. Originally, NIR-PIT was targeted against cancer cell surface antigens, but as it became clear that NIR-PIT induced a strong immune response, an effort was made to target selected immune cell populations in the tumor microenvironment to encourage an even stronger immune response. Thus, CD25-targeted NIR-PIT and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA4)-targeted NIR-PIT were developed to kill regulatory T cells (Tregs) in conjunction with cancer-cell-targeted NIR-PIT, in order to amplify the host immune response. It was found that CD25-targeted NIR-PIT, using an antibody with the Fc portion removed, led to better results than the unmodified anti-CD25 antibody-directed NIR-PIT presumably because of a negative effect on activated T cells. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of an antibody fragment [anti-CTLA4-F(ab')] and a whole antibody (anti-CTLA4-IgG) for NIR-PIT. There was no significant difference in NIR-PIT-induced Treg killing between the anti-CTLA4-F(ab') and anti-CTLA4-IgG antibodies. Although both the antibody and the antibody fragment resulted in significant tumor growth inhibition, the antibody induced more robust CD8 T cell activation in ipsilateral lymph nodes and was more effective compared to the antibody fragment. The slower clearance of the anti-CTLA4-IgG APC enhanced antitumor immunity by promoting T cell priming in lymph nodes. In conclusion, unlike the results with CD25 where modified antibodies produced superior results to unmodified antibodies, anti-CTLA4-IgG antibody-based NIR-PIT proved more effective in reducing tumor growth than anti-CTLA4-F(ab') antibody-based NIR-PIT.