Cancer research
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The growth of a panel of 22 different human tumor, leukemia, and lymphoma cell lines was examined in a human tumor cloning assay in agar or methylcellulose and a tritiated thymidine uptake assay. The cultures were performed in the absence or presence of increasing concentrations (0.5-500 ng/ml) of nerve growth factor (NGF). The growth of 17 of the 22 cell lines was not significantly and reproducibly affected by NGF. ⋯ However, binding studies with iodinated NGF showed only low-affinity binding on the 86-HG-39 cell line and only high-affinity binding on the high-responder cell lines CCL 185 and 87-HG-31. In summary, our data suggest that NGF can be operative in stimulation of clonal growth of malignant tumor cells. High-affinity but not low-affinity binding sites mediate signal transduction for clonal growth and signaling involves tyrosine kinase activity.
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Comparative Study
In vivo antitumor activity of two new seven-substituted water-soluble camptothecin analogues.
The development of camptothecin-like compounds as inhibitors of topoisomerase I for the treatment of resistant tumors has generated clinical excitement in this new class of drugs. We have developed two novel water-soluble camptothecin analogues which are specific inhibitors of topoisomerase I and are potent cytotoxins with significant antitumor activity. We added water-solubilizing groups off position 7 in the B ring of either 10,11-ethylenedioxy- or 10,11-methylenedioxy-20(S)-camptothecin. ⋯ The antitumor activity of both compounds were also demonstrated in the MX-1 and PC-3 xenografts. Microscopic examination of selected tissues indicated that drug-induced toxicity was primarily limited to the gastrointestinal tract and was comparable among the three compounds. Further clinical development of this class of compounds is ongoing.
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The humanized anti-p185HER2 antibody, humAb4D5-8, has completed Phase II clinical trials for p185HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. Here, this antibody is used as a building block to engineer a disulfide-linked Fv (dsFv) beta-lactamase fusion protein for use in antibody-dependent enzyme-mediated prodrug therapy using cephalosporin-based prodrugs. Three Fv variants were designed with an interchain disulfide bond buried at the VL/VH interface and secreted from Escherichia coli. ⋯ Prebinding the dsFv3-beta-lactamase fusion protein specifically enhances the toxicity level of PRODOX to that of doxorubicin against SK-BR-3 but not MCF7 cells. The fusion protein retains both antigen-binding plus kinetic activity in murine serum and is cleared rapidly as judged by pharmacokinetic analysis in nude mice (initial and terminal half-lives of 0.23 and 1.27 h, respectively). Development and characterization of the dsFv3-beta-lactamase fusion protein is an important step toward targeted prodrug therapy of p185HER2-overexpressing tumors.
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Certain N-alkylated analogues of the natural polyamine spermine, such as N1,N11-diethylnorspermine (DENSPM), rapidly deplete intracellular polyamine pools by down-regulating the biosynthetic enzymes, ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, and by potently up-regulating the polyamine catabolizing enzyme, spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase. On the basis of previously reported antitumor activity in human tumor xenograft model systems, DENSPM is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials against human melanoma and other solid tumors. The antiproliferative activity of this analogue against the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype was examined in three MDR sublines of human melanoma RPMI-7932 cells, which were shown to be 2-to 10-fold resistant to classical MDR agents. ⋯ Collateral sensitivity of the MDR sublines to DENSPM is partially attributable to the finding that analogue (and spermidine) uptake in the sublines was about 2-fold higher (after 2 h) than in the parent cells. The presence of disturbances in polyamine homeostasis and increased sensitivity to DENSPM in three independently selected cell line variants suggests that they may be generally associated with the MDR phenotype in human melanoma and possibly other tumor cells. The collateral sensitivity of human melanoma MDR variants to DENSPM represents a possible therapeutic indication which should be considered during the ongoing clinical evaluation of this drug.
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We investigated the effects of somatostatin analogues and a synthetic bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) antagonist on the growth of the human malignant glioma cell lines U-87MG and U-373MG transplanted to nude mice or cultured in vitro. Nude mice bearing s.c. implanted U-87MG or U-373MG tumors were treated for 4 and 6 weeks, respectively, with various somatostatin analogues or bombesin/GRP antagonist RC-3095. Somatostatin analogues RC-160, RC-160-II, and RC-101-I, given s.c. in doses of 100 micrograms/animal/day, inhibited the growth of U-87MG xenografts as shown by more than 60% reduction in tumor volumes and 45% reduction in tumor weights compared with the control group. ⋯ In studies in vitro, RC-3095, added to the culture medium, significantly inhibited the proliferation of U-87MG and U-373MG cells in the presence of GRP(14-27), as measured by cell number, but only a moderate suppression of growth of both cell lines was observed with somatostatin analogue RC-160. These results demonstrate that bombesin/GRP antagonist RC-3095 and somatostatin analogues such as RC-160 can inhibit the growth of human glioblastoma cell lines U-87MG and U-373MG in vitro as well as in vivo. Our work suggests the merit of further investigations of these analogues for the possible development of new approaches for treatments of patients with malignant gliomas.