Lung cancer

Delisheng Injection (), a Chinese medicinal compound, enhanced the effect of cis-platinum on lung carcinoma cell line PGCL3

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of Delisheng Injection (, DLS), a Chinese medicinal compound, DLS combined with cis-platinum (DDP), an active agent used in lung cancer chemotherapy, on a human highly metastatic giant lung carcinoma cell line PGCL3.

METHODS

The suspended PGCL3 cells at 10(5) /mL cultured in 96-well tissue culture plates were divided into 4 groups: DLS treatment group (2 μL/mL, 5 μL/mL, 10 μL/mL, 25 μL/mL), DDP treatment group (1 μg/mL, 2 μg/mL, 5 μg/mL, 15 μg/mL), combined DLS with DDP treatment group (DLS:DDP 2 μL/mL:1 μg/mL, 5 μL/mL:2 μg/mL, 10 μL/mL:5 μg/mL, 25 μL/mL:15 μg/mL) and a control group. The cytotoxicity of DLS with different concentrations (2 μL/mL, 5 μL/mL, 10 μL/mL, 25 μL/mL) on PGCL3 cells was determined by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay. Effect of DLS on adhesion of PGCL-3 cells was tested by cell-matrigel adhesion assay. Chemotactic movement model of transwell camerula was used to determine the effect of DLS on invasion and migration of PGCL-3 cells.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, DLS (2 μL/mL, 5 μL/mL, 10 μL/mL, 25 μL/mL) could significantly decrease cell proliferation, adhesion, invasion and migration abilities (P <0.05). Cell adhesion, invasion and migration abilities were significantly decreased after combination treatment of DLS:DDP (2 μL/mL:1 μg/mL, 5 μL/mL:2 μg/mL, 10 μL/mL:5 μg/mL, 25 μL/mL:15 μg/mL) compared with DDP single-agent treatment (1 μg/mL, 2 μg/mL, 5 μg/mL, 15 μg/mL, P<0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

DLS single-agent has a satisfying inhibition effect in PGCL3 cell line and DLS might enhance the inhibition effect of DDP on cancer metastasis. Our research provided a experimental basis about the treatment on highly metastatic lung caner.

Expression of RRM1 and its association with resistancy to gemcitabine-based chemotherapy in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Gemcitabine has high activity against nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The level of ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) expression is closely related to the efficacy of gemcitabine on non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. However, the expression of RRM1 and its association with sensitivity to gemcitabine-based chemotherapy in advanced NPC is not known. In this study, we retrospectively collected 48 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded NPC tissues to evaluate the expression of RRM1 using immunohistochemistry. All patients were diagnosed and treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. RRM1 expression was positive in 17(35%) patients. RRM1 expression was not associated with sex, age, performance status, WHO histological type, number of distant metastases, previous treatment, or cycles of gemcitabine-based chemotherapy(P> 0.05). The progression-free survival of the RRM1-positive group was shorter than that of the RRM1-negative group (5 months vs. 7 months, P = 0.036), and the response rate of the RRM1-positive group was somewhat lower than that of the RRM1-negative group (51.6% vs. 35.3%, P = 0.278). There was no significant difference in median survival between the RRM1-positive and RRM1-negative groups (22 months vs. 19 months, P = 0.540). Our results show that RRM1-negative expression is related with longer progression-free survival in advanced NPC patients treated with gemcitabine-based regimens.

Effects of polyphyllin I on growth inhibition of human non-small lung cancer cells and in xenograft

Polyphyllin I (PPI), a small molecular monomer extracted from Rhizoma of Paris polyphyllin, shows strong anticancer effects in previous study. Human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells, human lung squamous cell carcinoma SK-MES-1 cells, and human lung large cell carcinoma H460 cells were cultured and then treated with PPI. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, flow cytometry, western blot analysis, and DNA ladder. Athymic nude mice bearing tumors were injected with PPI, and tumor growth was recorded. Our results showed that PPI significantly inhibited the proliferation of three non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines, with the inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 1.24, 2.40, and 2.33 μg/ml for A549, H460, and SK-MES-1 cells, respectively. After being treated with 2.5 µg/ml of PPI for 24 h, the apoptotic rate of A549 cells was 39.68%, which was remarkably higher than that of the control. Tumor growth was significantly inhibited in the PPI-treated group compared with the group treated with cisplatin (DDP) or PBS in the nude mice. PPI exhibits antitumor ability in NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo, which might be related to the apoptosis induced by PPI.

Feasibility study of dose-dense biweekly administered pemetrexed in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Pemetrexed is a multitargeted folate pathway inhibitor with documented activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The presumed maximum tolerated dose is 500 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, but pemetrexed-related toxicity is ameliorated when folate and B12 supplementation is provided and therefore a higher dose intensity may be tolerated. The current exploratory study assessed the feasibility of administration of pemetrexed at a fixed dose of 1000 mg every 2 weeks in patients with relapsed or refractory NSCLC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The first cohort of 12 patients received pemetrexed monotherapy. No dose-limiting grade 4 toxicity was noted after 4 cycles, so the subsequent cohort of 14 patients received additional anticancer agents (bevacizumab, erlotinib, carboplatin, docetaxel, vinorelbine) given along with dose-dense pemetrexed.

RESULTS

Toxicity overall was reversible and manageable. Among 19 patients who received pemetrexed either alone or with non-myelosuppressive targeted agents, there were only 2 instances of grade 4 neutropenia after prolonged treatment. Grade 3-4 hematologic toxicity was eventually noted in 11 of the 26 patients (42%; 95% confidence interval, 23% to 61%) after a median of 4 cycles (range, 2-14 cycles). There was no significant additional toxicity nor any treatment-related deaths.

CONCLUSION

Our preliminary observations indicate that dose-dense pemetrexed every 2 weeks is feasible and this regimen can be used as monotherapy. These data may serve as a scaffold for combination studies.

Positive expression of ERCC1 predicts a poorer platinum-based treatment outcome in Chinese patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

The goal of this study is to determine role of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 gene (ERCC1) and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) expression in predicting response and survival in Chinese patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsy tissues were retrospectively obtained from 124 advanced NSCLC patients. Protein expression levels of ERCC1 and RRM1 were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Associations between expression of ERCC1 and RRM1 and clinic-pathologic parameters were analyzed. The study shows that ERCC1 and RRM1 expression was detected in 43 (35%) and 50 (40%) of the 124 tumor samples, respectively. Expression of ERCC1 and RRM1 was negatively associated with tumor response. Fifty-four percent patients whose tumors did not express ERCC1 had partial response (PR) compared to 33% whose tumors expressed the protein (P = 0.022). Similarly, 54% patients whose tumor did not express RRM1 had PR compared to 36% whose tumors expression the protein (P = 0.042). Further, patients whose tumors lacked of ERCC1 but not RRM1 expression had a longer median survival time than those tumors expressed ERCC1 (13.4 months versus 9.1 months; P = 0.006), which is independent of other prognostic factors (P = 0.0066). In conclusion, tumor ERCC1 expression is associated with tumor response and patients' survival in Chinese advanced NSCLC patients treated with platinum-based regimen and may serve as a biomarker in predicting tumor response and clinical outcome in the patient population.