Phase I study of the combination of nedaplatin, adriamycin and 5-fluorouracil for treatment of advanced esophageal cancer

Efficacy and safety of chemotherapy regimens for first-line treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in asia: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

There is currently no consensus on the optimal chemotherapy regimen in the palliative first-line setting for East Asian patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

AREAS COVERED

We conducted a systematic review using a literature search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library without date restrictions, and abstracts from major oncology congresses. Studies meeting the following criteria were included: East Asian patients ≥18 years old with pathologically proven metastatic or locally advanced unresectable ESCC; first-line chemotherapy; reporting of overall survival, progression-free survival, duration of response, overall response rate, and/or safety; randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, and prospective or retrospective comparative studies. In total, 39 articles were identified for the following regimens: platinum plus fluoropyrimidine (n=9), platinum plus taxane (n=16), platinum plus fluoropyrimidine plus taxane (n=7), platinum plus fluoropyrimidine plus other (n=3), irinotecan plus platinum (n=2), taxane plus fluoropyrimidine (n=1).

EXPERT OPINION

The available data supports both taxane plus platinum regimens and fluoropyrimidine plus platinum regimens in the first-line treatment of East Asian patients with ESCC. Compared with data from doublet chemotherapy studies, triplet chemotherapy appeared to improve ORR, but did not seem to prolong OS, possibly due to an increased incidence of adverse events.

Luffa echinata Roxb. induces human colon cancer cell (HT-29) death by triggering the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway

The antiproliferative properties and cell death mechanism induced by the extract of the fruits of Luffa echinata Roxb. (LER) were investigated. The methanolic extract of LER inhibited the proliferation of human colon cancer cells (HT-29) in both dose-dependent and time-dependent manners and caused a significant increase in the population of apoptotic cells. In addition, obvious shrinkage and destruction of the monolayer were observed in LER-treated cells, but not in untreated cells. Analysis of the cell cycle after treatment of HT-29 cells with various concentrations indicated that LER extracts inhibited the cellular proliferation of HT-29 cells via G2/M phase arrest of the cell cycle. The Reactive oxygen species (ROS) level determination revealed that LER extracts induced apoptotic cell death via ROS generation. In addition, LER treatment led to a rapid drop in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) as a decrease in fluorescence. The transcripts of several apoptosis-related genes were investigated by RT-PCR analysis. The caspase-3 transcripts of HT-29 cells significantly accumulated and the level of Bcl-XL mRNA was decreased after treatment with LER extract. Furthermore, the ratio of mitochondria-dependent apoptosis genes (Bax and Bcl-2) was sharply increased from 1.6 to 54.1. These experiments suggest that LER has anticancer properties via inducing the apoptosis in colon cancer cells, which provided the impetus for further studies on the therapeutic potential of LER against human colon carcinoma.

Second-line combination chemotherapy with docetaxel and nedaplatin for Cisplatin-pretreated refractory metastatic/recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND

There is an urgent need for an effective second-line chemotherapy regimen after failure of the standard cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This study investigated the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of docetaxel (30 mg/m2) during a 1-hour infusion, followed by nedaplatin (50 mg/m2) during a 2-hour infusion (both drugs were administered on day 1 as an outpatient regimen and repeated every 2 weeks) as second-line chemotherapy for patients with cisplatin-pretreated refractory metastatic/recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after surgery.

RESULTS

Forty-six of the 48 patients (95.8%) were assessable for response. Partial response was confirmed in 13 of 48 cases yielding a response rate of 27.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.5-39.7%). The median overall time to progression and overall survival was 3.1 months (95% CI, 2.3-3.9 months) and 5.9 months (95% CI, 3.9-7.8 months), respectively. The estimate of overall survival at 12 months was 16.7% (95% CI, 6.1-27.2%). Grade 3 anemia leucopenia, grade 4 anemia leucopenia and neutropenia were detected in only 4 (8.7%), 8 (17.4%), and 9 patients (19.6%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination chemotherapy of docetaxel and nedaplatin in the outpatient setting is well tolerated and useful as second-line chemotherapy for cisplatin-pretreated refractory metastatic/recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Marchantin C, a macrocyclic bisbibenzyl, induces apoptosis of human glioma A172 cells

Macrocyclic bisbibenzyls, a class of characteristic components derived from liverworts, are attracting more and more attention because of their wide range of biological significance, including anti-bacterial, anti-fungus, anti-oxidation and cytotoxicity. Herein, we investigated the pro-apoptotic effect of marchantin C on human glioma A 172 cells. The results demonstrated that marchantin C conferred dose-dependent inhibitory effects onto cell growth, viability and colony formation ability of A 172 cells. Morphological observation and DNA laddering assay showed that marchantin C-treated A172 cells displayed outstanding apoptosis characteristics, such as nuclear fragmentation, the appearance of membrane-enclosed apoptotic bodies and DNA laddering fragment. Moreover, flow cytometric detection of phosphatidylserine externalization indicated that marchantin C-induced apoptosis occurred in a dose-dependent manner. RT-PCR and western blot assay further substantiated that marchantin C, as a promising pro-apoptotic agent, had strong effects to induce A172 cell apoptosis, suggesting that the action was achieved through up-regulating Bax and down-regulating Bcl-2.