Radioimmunotherapy study of (131)I-labeled Atezolizumab in preclinical models of colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1(PD-L1) is overexpressed in many tumors. The radionuclide-labeled anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody can be used for imaging and therapy of PD-L1 overexpressing cancer. Here, we described (131)I-labeled Atezolizumab ((131)I-Atezolizumab, targeting PD-L1) as a therapeutic agent for colorectal cancer with PD-L1 overexpression. METHODS: (131)I-Atezolizumab was prepared by the Iodogen method. The expression levels of PD-L1 in different human colorectal cells were determined by flow cytometry, western blot and cell binding assay. The immunoreactivity of (131)I-Atezolizumab to PD-L1 high-expressing cells was determined by immunoreactive fraction. The killing abilities of different concentrations of (131)I-Atezolizumab on cells with high and low expression of PD-L1 were detected by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method. Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) and radioimmunotherapy (RIT) of (131)I-Atezolizumab were performed on two human colorectal cancer models. The distribution and tumor targeting of (131)I-Atezolizumab were evaluated by imaging. Tumor volume and survival time were used as indicators to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of (131)I-Atezolizumab. RESULTS: The expression level of PD-L1 in vitro determined by the cell binding assay was related to the data of flow cytometry and western blot. (131)I-Atezolizumab can specifically bind to PD-L1 high-expressing cells in vitro to reflect the expression level of PD-L1. Immunoreactive fraction of PD-L1 high-expressing RKO cells with (131)I-Atezolizumab was 52.2%. The killing ability of (131)I-Atezolizumab on PD-L1 high-expressing cells was higher than that of low-expressing cells. CLI proved that the specific uptake level of tumors depends on the expression level of PD-L1. Effect of (131)I-Atezolizumab RIT showed an activity-dependent tumor suppressor effect on RKO tumor-bearing mice with high PD-L1 expression. (131)I-Atezolizumab (37 MBq) can improve the median survival time of mice (34 days), compared to untreated mice (27 days) (P = 0.027). Although a single activity(37 MBq) of (131)I-Atezolizumab also inhibited the tumors of HCT8 tumor-bearing mice with low PD-L1 expression (P < 0.05), it could not prolong the survival of mice(P = 0.29). CONCLUSION: (131)I-Atezolizumab can be used as a CLI agent for screening PD-L1 expression levels. It may be used as a radioimmunotherapy drug target for PD- L1 overexpressing tumors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13550-022-00939-2.