the monoclonal antibody employed in the present invention was the mh - 1 monoclonal antibody described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 364 , 053 . the mh - 1 monoclonal antibody was radiolabeled with a technetium - 99m chelating compound of an active ester of a sulfur protected mercaptoacetyladipoylglycylglycine bifunctional chelate . in the present invention , the active ester was tetrafluorophenylester and the sulfur protecting group was ethoxyethyl . other common esters which find use with this labeling technique are o - and p - nitrophenyl , 2 - chloro - 4 - nitrophenyl , cyanomethyl , 2 - mercaptopyridyl , hydroxybenztriazole , n - hydroxy succinimide , trichlorophenyl , tetrafluorophenyl , thiophenyl , tetrafluorothiophenyl , o - nitro - p - sulfophenyl , n - hydroxy phthalimide and the like . for the most part , the esters will be formed from the reaction of the carboxylate with an activated phenol , particularly nitro - activated phenols , or a cyclic compound based on hydroxylamine . the advantages of using sulfur protecting groups include the fact that a separate step for removal of the sulfur - protective groups is not necessary . the protecting groups are displaced from the compound during the radiolabeling in what is believed to be metal - assisted acid cleavage : i . e ., the protective groups are displaced in the presence of the metal radioisotope at an acidic ph and the radioisotope is bound by the chelating compound . the radiolabeling procedure thus is simplified , which is especially advantageous when the chelating compounds are to be radiolabeled in a hospital laboratory shortly before use . in addition , the basic ph conditions and harsh conditions associated with certain known radiolabeling procedures or procedures for removal of other sulfur protective groups are avoided . thus , base - sensitive groups on the chelating compound survive the radiolabeling step intact . suitable sulfur protecting groups , when taken together with the sulfur atom to be protected , include hemithioacetal groups such as ethoxyethyl , tetrahydrofuranyl , methoxymethyl , and tetrahydropyranyl . other suitable sulfur protecting groups are acyl groups , preferably alkanoyl or benzoyl . other possible formulas for the metal chelating compounds are described in the european patent application assigned publication number 0 284 071 . synthesis of the tc - 99m bifunctional chelate and subsequent conjugation to a monoclonal antibody can be performed as described in the european patent application assigned publication number 0 284 071 . the purified technetium - 99m labeled mh - 1 monoclonal antibody was injected into the femoral vein of rabbits with experimentally induced thrombi in the jugular vein . the tc - 99m mh - 1 monoclonal antibody reliably visualized thrombi within two and one half ( 2 . 5 ) hours post - injection . this result indicates that the mh - 1 monoclonal antibody , when radiolabeled with a tc - 99m triamide thiolate bifunctional chelate , is efficacious as an in vivo diagnostic agent for the imaging of thrombi . the tc - 99 bifunctional chelate complex of the tetrafluorophenyl ester of s - ethoxyethyl mercaptoadipoylglycylglycine ( n 3 s - adipyl - tfp - ester ) was prepared by reduction of tc - 99m pertechnetate with 120 mg stannous chloride dihydrate in the presence of 5 mg sodium gluconate and 100 mg of the n 3 s - adipyl - tfp - ester at ph 3 . the solution was heated for 15 minutes in a 75 ° c . water bath , then placed into ice for five minutes . this reaction gave 86 % of 99m tcn 3 s - tfp - ester complex as determined by hplc ( alltech adsorbosphere c 18 , 25 cm × 4 . 6 mm , 5 micron ; 24 % acetonitrile : 76 % dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified phosphate buffered saline ; 1 ml / min ; retention times 8 . 2 minutes and 14 . 5 minutes ). a c 18 sep - pak ® ( waters ) was rinsed once with 3 ml of ethanol and then twice with 3 ml of water . the 99m tcn 3 s solution was diluted to 10 ml with pbs and then loaded onto the sep - pak ®. the sep - pak ® was rinsed in succession with 3 ml of 2 . 5 % ethanol / 97 . 5 % pbs , 0 . 5 ml methanol , and 1 . 5 ml methanol . the 1 . 5 ml methanol fraction was then evaporated to dryness . for conjugation of the complex active ester to the antibody , 0 . 4 ml of 1 . 48 mg mh - 1 / 1 . 0 ml 0 . 1m phosphate , ph 10 was added to the evaporated vial containing the 99m tcn 3 s adipyl - tfp - ester complex . the solution was incubated at 37 ° for 15 minutes . a pd - 10 gel filtration column ( pharmacia lkb ) was equilibrated with pbs . the 99m tcn 3 s - mh - 1 preparation was loaded onto the column and the column was eluted with pbs and 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 ml fractions collected . the fractions were analyzed to determine the percentage of 99m tc bound to the protein using itlc with 12 . 5 % trichloroacetic acid as the developing solvent ( 99m tc - labeled protein remains at the origin ) and fractions with & gt ; 90 % radio - activity on the protein according to itlc were combined . the combined fractions were further characterized with hplc ( zorbax ® gel filtration column ( dupont ), 0 . 1m phosphate , 0 . 1 % sds ; 1 ml / min ; 99m tc - protein retention time 7 . 6 minutes ). the purity of 99m tcn 3 s - adipyl - mh - 1 was 99 %. the technetium - 99m labeled mh - 1 monoclonal antibody ( 120 microcurie / microgram ) was injected into rabbits ( 200 to 400 mci / kg ) with experimentally induced thrombi . serial scintigrams and arterial blood samples were acquired for six ( 6 ) hours ; tissues and thrombi were assayed for technetium - 99m concentration . clot - to - blood ratios were determined as were half - lives of tracer elimination from the blood . these results were then compared to those for a technetium - 99m labeled antibody not reactive for fibrin , technetium - 99m nr - lu - 10 . technetium - 99m nr - lu - 10 is a monoclonal antibody that is specific for an antigen found on several carcinomas . the technetium - 99m mh - 1 monoclonal antibody reliably visualized thrombi within two and one half ( 2 . 5 ) hours post - injection ; the technetium - 99m nr - lu - 10 did not image thrombi at any time . analysis of the technetium - 99m concentrations produced these results : ______________________________________ tc - 99m mh - 1 tc - 99m nr - lu - 10n 4 2______________________________________clot - to - blood ratio 16 . 3 ( range : 8 . 7 - 28 . 3 ) 0 . 19 ( range : 0 . 18 - 0 . 21 ) t 1 / 2 ( hours ) 3 . 7 ( range : 3 . 1 - 4 . 0 ) 11 . 3 ( range : 9 . 6 - 13 . 5 ) ______________________________________ the clot - to blood ratios for technetium - 99m mh - 1 at six ( 6 ) hours post - injection are comparable to or higher than values obtained after much longer periods ( 18 - 48 hours ) for other currently available radiolabeled antifibrin monoclonal antibodies . the clot - to - blood ratios of the fibrin specific tc - 99m mh - 1 monoclonal antibody exceeds that of the non - specific tc - 99m nr - lu - 10 antibody on average , by a factor of 85 . the t 1 / 2 for technetium - 99m mh - 1 is considerably shorter than is normally found for whole monoclonal antibodies and might relate to the acidic isoelectric point ( pi = 5 . 8 ) of the mh - 1 monoclonal antibody or be due to extraction from the blood by the liver . these results illustrate the outstanding properties of the present invention being that technetium - 99m mh - 1 monoclonal antibody is efficacious as an in vivo diagnostic agent for the imaging of thrombi . in order to image thrombi , a preparation of the present invention using either whole , fragmented , or recombinant mh - 1 monoclonal antibodies is administered to the patient , for example , in the form of an injectable liquid . by means of suitable detectors , e . g . a gamma camera , images can be obtained by recording the emitted radiation of the organ or the pathological process in which the radioactive material has been incorporated , which in the present case is thrombi . the 99m tcn 3 s - adipyl mh - 1 monoclonal antibody of the present invention or a fragment or recombinant thereof prepared as described above provides a means of in vivo diagnostic imaging of thrombi which provides many advantages over prior known procedures which could only be used to calculate the in vivo concentrations of blood proteins . after the mh - 1 monoclonal antibody is prepared and labeled according to the procedure described , the composition is used with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in a method of performing a diagnostic imaging procedure using a gamma camera or like device which involves injecting or administering to a warm - blooded animal an effective amount of the present invention and then exposing the warm - blooded animal to an imaging procedure as described above , thereby imaging at least a portion of the body of the warm - blooded animal . pharmaceutically acceptable carriers include those that are suitable for injection such as aqueous buffer solutions , e . g . tris ( hydroxymethyl ) aminomethane ( and its salts ), phosphate , citrate , bicarbonate , etc ., sterile water for injection , physiological saline , and balanced ionic solutions containing chloride and / or bicarbonate salts of normal blood plasma cations such as ca 2 + , na + , k + and mg 2 + . other buffer solutions are described in remington &# 39 ; s practice of pharmacy , eleventh edition , for example on page 170 . the carriers may contain a chelating agent , e . g . a small amount of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid , calcium disodium salt , or other pharmaceutically acceptable chelating agents . the concentration of the labeled monoclonal antibodies in the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , for example an aqueous medium , varies with the particular field of use . a sufficient amount is present in the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in this particular case when satisfactory visualization of the thrombi is achievable . the composition is administered to the warm - blooded animal so that the composition remains in the living animal body for about 6 to 7 hours , although shorter and longer residence periods are normally acceptable . the technetium - 99m mh - 1 monoclonal antibodies may be used in the usual way in imaging procedures . for example , with the present invention when imaging thrombi , a sufficient amount of the radiolabeled mh - 1 antibody must be intraveneously administered to the warm - blooded animal to provide adequate visualization ; the animal or a portion thereof is then scanned with a suitable imaging machine such as a gamma camera . after consideration of the above specification , it will be appreciated that many improvements and modifications in the details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . it is to be understood , therefore , that the invention is in no way limited , except as defined by the appended claims .
a diagnostic composition suitable for administration to a warm - blooded animal comprising a whole , fragmented , or recombinant mh - 1 monoclonal antibody labeled with a tc - 99m triamide thiolate bifunctional chelate capable of intravenous injection into an animal to produce reliable visual imaging of thrombi .