Comparison of Pharmacokinetics of Aprepitant in Healthy Chinese and Caucasian Subjects

Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists as a Potential Novel Therapeutic Option for Osteosarcoma Patients

Osteosarcoma is a bone tumor predominantly affecting children and adolescents with high malignant potential. It is a cause of serious public health challenges due to its high morbidity rates and metastatic potential. Metastasis in osteosarcoma may manifest either during treatment of the primary tumor, shortly after treatment, or a long time after the end of the treatment. So far, there are no therapeutics that can prevent or treat osteosarcoma metastasis. The peptide substance P (SP) and its high-affinity receptor, Neurokinin-1 (NK-1R), are known to positively correlate with osteosarcoma progression. Osteosarcoma cells overexpress NK-1R. SP is known to elicit the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells and induce angiogenesis and migration, leading to the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. In contrast, NK-1R antagonists, such as aprepitant, inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells. Aprepitant is also known to inhibit the migration of osteosarcoma cells, as well as reduce the expression levels and activities of transcriptional regulators of metastasis-related genes such as matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). These preceding studies highlighted the antimetastatic role of aprepitant in osteosarcoma Moreover, combination therapy consisting of chemotherapy and NK-1R antagonist increases the chemosensitization of osteosarcoma cells. Interestingly, this combination therapy in vitro and in vivo decreases the severe side-effects of chemotherapy and produces neuroprotection, hepatoprotection, nephroprotection, and cardioprotection. In this review, we provide an update on existing data and suggest the need to repurpose aprepitant for use as an antitumor drug for treatment of osteosarcoma, and they suggest the need for phase I and II clinical trials for assessment of its safety/efficacy.

FLOT (a chemotherapy regimen for gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer): to be treated as a highly emetogenic regimen or a moderately emetogenic one? Comparison of the emetogenic potential of FLOT versus FOLFOX and TAC regimens

PURPOSE

The current study aimed at investigating the efficacy of aprepitant-containing triple antiemetic regimen in FLOT (fluorouracil + leucovorin + oxaliplatin + docetaxel) recipients as well as the emetogenic potential of FLOT regimen, through comparison of nausea and vomiting rates in a moderately emetogenic chemotherapy, FLOT, and a highly emetogenic chemotherapy recipients.

STUDY

Patients planned to receive one of FLOT, FOLFOX (fluorouracil + leucovorin + oxaliplatin/moderate-emetic risk), or TAC (docetaxel + doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide/high-emetic risk) regimens were recruited. All patients were treated with the same triple antiemetic regimen containing aprepitant.

RESULTS

A total of 165 chemotherapy-naïve patients (52 FLOT recipients) were eligible to enter the study. At the end of day 5, "complete response" (primary efficacy endpoint) was achieved by 84.6%, 63.5%, and 61.5% of the FLOT-receiving patients in acute, delayed, and overall phases, respectively. A significant difference was seen among the odds of FLOT recipients and FOLFOX recipients concerning "complete response" achievement in delayed (p = 0.014) and overall (p = 0.017) phases, "no emesis" in delayed (p = 0.018) and overall (p = 0.010) phases, and also "complete protection" in acute (p = 0.023), delayed (p = 0.009), and overall (p = 0.006) phases; however, the difference between the odds of FLOT recipients and TAC recipients, in relation to achieving these endpoints, was insignificant. FLOT group showed significantly faster time-to-antiemetic regimen failure and time-to-first emetic episode in comparison with the FOLFOX group, which was insignificant in comparison with the TAC group.

CONCLUSION

According to the findings, FLOT has to be considered as a high-emetic-risk regimen; provided that, as recommended by the antiemetic guidelines towards better management of delayed nausea and vomiting induced by highly emetogenic regimens, executing clinical trials concerning the efficacy of continuing dexamethasone on days 2-4 in aprepitant-containing triple antiemetic regimen schedule is required.

The Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonist Aprepitant: An Intelligent Bullet against Cancer?

Neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) antagonists exert antitumor action, are safe and do not cause serious side-effects. These antagonists (via the NK-1R) exert multiple actions against cancer: antiproliferative and anti-Warburg effects and apoptotic, anti-angiogenic and antimetastatic effects. These multiple effects have been shown for a broad spectrum of cancers. The drug aprepitant (an NK-1R antagonist) is currently used in clinical practice as an antiemetic. In in vivo and in vitro studies, aprepitant also showed the aforementioned multiple antitumor actions against many types of cancer. A successful combination therapy (aprepitant and radiotherapy) has recently been reported in a patient suffering from lung carcinoma: the tumor mass disappeared and side-effects were not observed. Aprepitant could be considered as an intelligent bullet against cancer. The administration of aprepitant in cancer patients to prevent recurrence and metastasis after surgical procedures, thrombosis and thromboembolism is discussed, as is the possible link, through the substance P (SP)/NK-1R system, between cancer and depression. Our main aim is to review the multiple antitumor actions exerted by aprepitant, and the use of this drug is suggested in cancer patients. Altogether, the data support the reprofiling of aprepitant for a new therapeutic use as an antitumor agent.