Murine MoAb 17-1A is an IgG2a antibody reactive with a gastrointestinal cancer-associated cell surface antigen. Human-mouse chimeric 17-1A MoAbs were constructed in which the murine variable region of 17-1A was joined with human IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 constant regions. Human-mouse IgG1, IgG2, and IgG4 chimeric antibodies were compared with the parental murine antibody and its F(ab')2 fragments for their ability to bind to colon carcinoma cells in vitro, for their blood clearance in normal nude mice, and for their localization and tumor growth inhibition of colon carcinoma xenografts in nude mice. Indirect immunofluorescence experiments with fluorescein-conjugated goat anti-mouse or goat anti-human antibody verified that the substitution of human constant regions in the chimeric MoAbs did not significantly alter the ability of the murine variable region to bind to colon adenocarcinoma cell lines (LS174T, SW948, and C0112). The immunoreactivities of 125I-labeled murine and chimeric 17-1A MoAbs measured in a live cell-binding assay with LS174T, SW948, and C0112 cells revealed that chimeric IgG1, IgG4, and 17-1A F(ab')2 were comparable to murine 17-1A while chimeric IgG2 showed lower binding. The blood half-lives of 125I-labeled murine 17-1A, its F(ab')2 fragments, and chimeric IgG1, IgG2, and IgG4 in normal nude mice determined by serial eye bleeding were 7.5, 0.5, 5.2, 6.9, and 1.9 days, respectively. In biodistribution studies at 4 days after injection of 125I-labeled MoAbs in nude mice bearing LS174T tumors, chimeric IgG1 had the highest tumor concentration of 20.5% injected dose/g with a tumor/blood ratio of 3.2. 131I-labeled murine 17-1A administered in a single injection of 300 microCi or 3 injections of about 300 microCi each to nude mice bearing established LS174T tumors inhibited tumor growth, whereas a comparable amount of unlabeled murine 17-1A did not inhibit tumor growth. 131I-labeled chimeric IgG1 MoAb showed a similar level of tumor growth inhibition. The results of the present study indicate that 17-1A chimeric IgG1 antibody may be the best choice for clinical radioimmunodetection and radioimmunotherapy studies.