Ashim K. Datta, Research

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Computational Model of Radioactivity Delivery to a Melanoma Tumor During Radioimmunotherapy with Melanin-binding Antibody

This is a joint project with Professor Ekaterina Dadachova of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Radioimmunotherapy uses an antibody labeled with a radionuclide to deliver cytotoxic radiation to a target cell. The antibody binds to a tumor-associated antigen to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to tumor cells. The aim of the work was to develop a computational model for the transport and subsequent binding of the antibody in the tumor to generate a dosing protocol for clinical trials.

Method

The process by which the antibody binds to tumor melanin is governed by Michaelis-Menten reaction kinetics. The geometry and mesh for the computations was created in the software, GAMBIT. The commercial finite element solver, FIDAP, was utilized for solving the transient diffusion equation with source terms to incorporate uptake from blood, lymph removal and antibody-antigen reaction. The input parameters were obtained from experiments and literature. All animal studies were carried out in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Institute for Animal Studies. The computations were done in the Department of Biological & Environmental Engineering at Cornell University.

Contours of antibody-melanin complex concentration 72 hours after 200 mCi injection for tumor melanin concentrations of 76 µM (unpublished work).