Substituting Doxorubicin with nonpegylated liposomal Doxorubicin for the treatment of early breast cancer: results of a retrospective study

Anthracyclines Strike Back: Rediscovering Non-Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin in Current Therapeutic Scenarios of Breast Cancer

Anthracyclines are among the most active chemotherapies (CT) in breast cancer (BC). However, cardiotoxicity is a risk and peculiar side effect that has been limiting their use in clinical practice, especially after the introduction of taxanes. Non-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (NPLD) has been developed to optimize the toxicity profile induced by anthracyclines, while maintaining its unquestionable therapeutic index, thanks to its delivering characteristics that increase its diffusion in tumor tissues and reduce it in normal tissues. This feature allows NPLD to be safely administered beyond the standard doxorubicin maximum cumulative dose of 450-480 mg/m2. Following three pivotal first-line phase III trials in HER2-negative metastatic BC (MBC), this drug was finally approved in combination with cyclophosphamide in this specific setting. Given the increasing complexity of the therapeutic scenario of HER2-negative MBC, we have carefully revised the most updated literature on the topic and dissected the potential role of NPLD in the evolving therapeutic algorithms.

Selective Activation of ZAK β Expression by 3-Hydroxy-2-Phenylchromone Inhibits Human Osteosarcoma Cells and Triggers Apoptosis via JNK Activation

Although various advancements in radical surgery and neoadjuvant chemotherapy have been developed in treating osteosarcoma (OS), their clinical prognosis remains poor. A synthetic chemical compound, 3-hydroxylflavone, that is reported to regulate ROS production is known to inhibit human bone osteosarcoma cells. However, its role and mechanism in human OS cells remains unclear. In this study, we have determined the potential of 3-Hydroxy-2-phenylchromone (3-HF) against OS using human osteosarcoma (HOS) cells. Our previous studies showed that Zipper sterile-alpha-motif kinase (ZAK), a kinase member of the MAP3K family, was involved in various cellular events such as cell proliferation and cell apoptosis, and encoded two transcriptional variants, ZAKα and β. In this study, we show that 3-HF induces the expression of ZAK and thereby enhances cellular apoptosis. Using gain of function and loss of function studies, we have demonstrated that ZAK activation by 3-HF in OS cells is confined to a ZAKβ form that presumably plays a leading role in triggering ZAKα expression, resulting in an aggravated cancer apoptosis. Our results also validate ZAKβ as the predominant form of ZAK to drive the anticancer mechanism in HOS cells.

Use of liposomal doxorubicin for adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer in clinical practice

Breast cancer is one of the malignant tumors with the highest morbidity and mortality. It is helpful to reduce the rate of tumor recurrence and metastasis by treating breast cancer with adjuvant chemotherapy, so as to increase the cure rate or survival of patients. In recent years, liposomes have been regarded as a kind of new carrier for targeted drugs. Being effective for enhancing drug efficacy and reducing side effects, they have been widely used for developing anticancer drugs. As a kind of anthracycline with high anticancer activity, doxorubicin can treat or alleviate a variety of malignant tumors effectively when it is used on its own or in combination with other anticancer drugs. Although liposomal doxorubicin has been extensively used in the adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer, its exact therapeutic efficacy and side effects have not been definitely proven. Various clinical studies have adopted different combined regimes, dosages, and staging, so their findings differ to certain extent. This paper reviews the clinical application of liposomal doxorubicin in the adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer and illustrates therapeutic effects and side effects of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and non-PLD (NPLD) in clinical research, in order to discuss the strategies for applying these drugs in such adjuvant chemotherapy, looking forward to providing references for related research and clinical treatment in terms of dosage, staging, combined regimes, and analysis methods and so on.