Biodistribution of chimeric mouse/human monoclonal antibody against non-specific cross-reacting antigen (chNCA Ab) was studied in athymic mice and patients with metastatic bone disease. 99mTc-chNCA Ab showed a high labelling efficiency, stability and also a high binding ratio to human granulocytes. Since NCA showed cross-reactivity with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), animal experiments showed that 99mTc-chNCA Ab was accumulated in the xenografted tumour which expressed CEA, suggesting the preserved immunoreactivity of labelled materials. In the clinical study, injected 99mTc-chNCA Ab formed a high molecular weight complex immediately after intravenous administration and was trapped mainly in liver. The first-phase plasma half-life was 6.4 +/- 1.1 min. None of the patients showed adverse reaction or human antimurine or anti-chimeric antibody in their serum. 99mTc-chNCA Ab demonstrated remarkably different biodistribution between patients and the animal model and showed different pharmacokinetics from other murine and chimeric Abs reported previously. For safety HPLC analysis should be performed before clinical radioimmunodetection or radioimmunotherapy by incubating radiolabelled MAb with human serum under strict conditions.