Abstract

AIMS--To analyse the distribution of OV-TL 3 and MOv18 in normal ovarian tissue to determine which antibody is most suitable for (radio)immunotherapy of ovarian carcinoma. METHODS--The distribution of OV-TL 3 and MOv18 was determined using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. RESULTS--Epithelial and other cells in many tissues, and leucocytes in peripheral blood, bone marrow and spleen stained positively with OV-TL 3. The staining pattern of MOv18 in normal tissues was more restricted and was confined to epithelial cells in the lung, kidney, pancreas, salivary gland, ovary, Fallopian tubes, and cervix. Reactivity was also observed with pneumocytes in the lung, tubuli in the kidney, acinar cells in the salivary gland and pancreas, in the placenta, and with Kupffer cells in the liver. The staining pattern of chimeric MOv18 was identical with the murine form. OV-TL 3 and MOv18 reacted with 100% and 98% (45/46) of the 46 tested epithelial ovarian cancers, respectively. In ovarian carcinoma tissue homogeneous staining of epithelial cells was observed with OV-TL 3 and more heterogeneous staining with MOv18. In 12 and nine patients, respectively, a difference in staining intensity for OV-TL 3 and MOv18 was observed between various tumour samples from the same patient. CONCLUSION--MOv18 has greater therapeutic potential because of its restricted reactivity with normal tissues and especially, in contrast to OV-TL 3, its lack of reactivity with haematopoietic cells.