Technetium-99m labeling of antibodies has been suboptimal because of low affinity adventitious binding, nonspecific labeling, and loss of immunoreactivity. The diamide dithiolate ligand system (N2S2) forms highly stable, well-defined tetradentate complexes with Tc(V). Antibodies and their fragments have been labeled by conjugation of preformed "mTc4,5-bis(thioacetamido)pentanoate active ester to protein amine groups to give a chemically known 99"Tc-N2S2 complex covalently linked to antibody. Evaluations of the "'Tc-N2S2-bound antibodies and their fragments have shown high stability and retained immunoreactivity.Successful targeting ofdiagnostic radionuclides to tumors not only provides a tool to diagnose and stage cancer but also demonstrates feasibility for therapy where ligand systems can be applied to therapy radionuclides. Early studies with radiolabeled antibodies utilized radioiodine (1231/1311) because of extensive experience in protein radioiodination, covalent attachment, and ready availability of the radionuclide (1,2). Improved tumor-to-nontumor ratios were achieved with 1"'In compared to 131I by using diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (DTPA) bifunctional chelating agent technology (3)(4)(5) MATERIALS AND METHODS Preparation of 99mTc-4,5-bis(thioacetamido)pentanoyl (N2S2)-Conjugated Anti-Melanoma 9.2.27 F(ab')2 Fragment. To a mixture of 25 1.l of 4,5-bis(benzoylthioacetamido)pentanoic acid (1.0 mg/ml solution in 90% CH3CN) and 100 ,ul of 1 M NaOH was added 100 mCi of sodium [99mTc]pertechnetate in 1.0 ml of saline (0.9% NaCl). Then 1.0 mg of sodium dithionite (0.10 ml of a freshly prepared 10 mg/ml solution) was added, and the mixture was heated at 750C for 15 min.The pH was brought to about 6 with 0.10 ml of 1 M HCI and 0.30 ml of 0.2 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0). Then 10.0 mg of 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenol (0.10 ml of a 100 mg/ml solution in 90% CH3CN) and 12.5 mg of 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide (0.10 ml of a 125.0 mg/ml solution in 90% CH3CN) were added, and the solution was heated at 75°C for 30 min. The resulting tetrafluorophenyl active ester derivative of "mTc-4,5-bis(thioacetamido)pentanoate was purified by loading the reaction mixture on a conditioned C18 cartridge (J. T. Baker), washing with 2.0 ml of 20% (vol/vol) ethyl alcohol/0.01 M sodium phosphate, pH 7.0, eight times, and eluting with 100% CH3CN. The solvent was evaporated under a stream of N2. Then 0.5 ml of the 9.2.27 F(ab')2 fragment (16) at 2.5 mg/ml and 0.50 ml of 0.2 M sodium phosphate (pH 9.0) were added for conjugation. After 15 min at room temperature, 25 mg of lysine (0.25 ml of a 250-mg/ml solution at pH 9.0) was added to quench unreacted ester. The 99mTc-N2S2-9.2.27 F(ab')2 was purified by passage through a G-25 Sephadex column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with phosphate-buffered saline.Abbreviations: N2S2, diamide dithiolate chelating system; 99M Tc-N2S2-9.2.27 F(ab')2, 99mTc-4,5-bis(thioacetamido)pentanoyl-9.2.27 F(ab')2 fragments; DPTA, diethylenetriaminepentaacetate.