Cancer research
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Antitumor and radiosensitizing effects of (E)-2'-deoxy-2'-(fluromethylene) cytidine (FMdC), a novel inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase, were evaluated on nude mice bearing s.c. xenografts and liver metastases of a human colon carcinoma. FMdC given once daily or twice weekly has a dose-dependent antitumor effect. The maximum tolerated dose in the mice was reached with 10 mg/kg applied daily over 12 days. ⋯ When 5 mg/kg FMdC was combined with irradiation, there was no increased skin or hematological toxicity as compared to radiotherapy or FMdC alone. At the 10 mg/kg level, however, lower leukocyte counts were observed. These results show that FMdC appears to be a potent anticancer drug and radiosensitizer.
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Comparative Study
2-Chloroethyl-3-sarcosinamide-1-nitrosourea, a novel chloroethylnitrosourea analogue with enhanced antitumor activity against human glioma xenografts.
Nitrosoureas are among the most widely used agents used in the treatment of malignant gliomas. Here, the activity of 2-chloroethyl-3-sarcosinamide-1-nitrosourea (SarCNU) was compared with that of 1,3-bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), in vivo against s.c. implanted SF-295 and U-251 central nervous system (CNS) tumor xenografts. When given i.v., q4d for 3 doses, to athymic mice bearing s.c. ⋯ Again, SarCNU resulted in tumor-free animals at 66 and 45% of its optimal dose and was relatively nontoxic, in contrast to BCNU. Results of testing to date indicate that SarCNU is clearly more effective than BCNU against the human CNS tumors SF-295 and U-251 in vivo. These results encourage the initiation of clinical trials for SarCNU, in an effort to improve therapeutic approaches to glioma, but clinical trials must determine whether superiority of SarCNU in preclinical models can be extrapolated to patients.
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The liver is remarkably insensitive to a variety of cytotoxins and expresses a number of known drug resistance genes. To isolate new P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-related genes, we screened a normal rat liver cDNA library at low stringency with a MDR1 cDNA fragment containing the P-loop and ATP binding site. We isolated a novel cDNA closely related to the Pgps that is dramatically increased in hepatic neoplasia and refer to it as P-glycoprotein-related protein (PRP). ⋯ At the hyperplastic nodule stage, PRP expression was increased over its expression in normal surrounding liver. More dramatic increases in PRP expression were found in frank hepatic carcinomas. Cumulatively, these studies are the first to link a novel ABC family member to the hepatic neoplastic process, a role that may be recapitulated in other cells, considering the ubiquitous expression of PRP.