Improved tumor targeting of anti–epidermal growth factor receptor Nanobodies through albumin binding: taking advantage of modular Nanobody technology

The approximately 15-kDa variable domains of camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies (called Nanobodies) can easily be formatted as multivalent or multispecific single-chain proteins. Because of fast excretion, however, they are less suitable for therapy of cancer. In this study, we aimed for improved tumor targeting of a bivalent anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) Nanobody (alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR) by fusion to a Nanobody unit binding to albumin (alphaAlb). Biodistributions of alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR, alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR-alphaAlb ( approximately 50 kDa), alphaTNF-alphaTNF-alphaAlb (control, binding tumor necrosis factor-alpha), and the approximately 150-kDa anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab were compared in A431 xenograft-bearing mice. The proteins were radiolabeled with (177)Lu to facilitate quantification. Tumor uptake of (177)Lu-alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR decreased from 5.0 +/- 1.4 to 1.1 +/- 0.1 %ID/g between 6 and 72 h after injection. Due to its rapid blood clearance, tumor-to-blood ratios >80 were obtained within 6 h after injection. Blood clearance became dramatically slower and tumor uptake became significantly higher by introduction of alphaAlb. Blood levels of alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR-alphaAlb were 21.2 +/- 2.5, 11.9 +/- 0.6, and 4.0 +/- 1.4 and tumor levels were 19.4 +/- 5.5, 35.2 +/- 7.5, and 28.0 +/- 6.8 %ID/g at 6, 24, and 72 h after injection, respectively. Tumor uptake was at least as high as for cetuximab (15.5 +/- 3.9, 27.1 +/- 7.9, and 25.6 +/- 6.1 %ID/g) and significantly higher than for alphaTNF-alphaTNF-alphaAlb. alphaEGFR-alphaEGFR-alphaAlb showed faster and deeper tumor penetration than cetuximab. These data show that simple fusion of alphaEGFR and alphaAlb building blocks results in a bifunctional Nanobody format, which seems more favorable for therapy as far as pharmacokinetics and tumor deposition are concerned.