Involvement of Toll-like receptor 4 in vinorelbine-induced vascular endothelial injury

Progress in Research on the Mechanisms and Interventions of Phlebitis from the Perspective of Vascular Endothelial Cell and Signaling Pathway

Background

Phlebitis is a common complication of intravenous administration and greatly affects clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and health-care expenditure. Numerous studies have revealed venous injuries only through visual and histopathological examination. Although sporadic studies have explored the cellular and molecular biological mechanisms of phlebitis and the outcomes of pharmacological interventions, an updated review over the last decade is not available.

Methods

Progress in research on the mechanisms and interventions of phlebitis was summarized from the perspective of endothelial cells and signaling pathways by retrieving the PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, MEDLINE, Embase, and CNKI.

Results

Phlebitis involves multiple signaling pathways (eg, nuclear factor kappa B, Wnt/β-catenin, focal adhesion kinase/protein kinase B, Toll-like receptor, protein kinase C beta/NADPH oxidase, PI3K/AKT/TNF, and JAK2/STAT3), upregulation of E-selectin, GBP5/NLRP3 inflammasome axis, cell apoptosis, intracellular ROS generation, SOD reduction, stimulation of angiogenesis, and induction of autophagy-associated cell death. Preventive and curative interventions included α-solanine, baicalein, escin, intermedin, Y15, micro-ribonucleic acid-223, sotrastaurin, cimetidine, aescin, resveratrol, α-chaconine, Chahuang ointment, QingLuoTongMai, Mailuo Shutong, and N-acetylcysteine. Laboratory models included vascular endothelial cells, real-time cell-monitoring analysis, network pharmacology analysis and experimental verification in vivo, animal models of phlebitis (rat, rabbit, and mouse), rabbit models with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) catheterization, models of PICC/central venous catheter indwelling with combined drugs in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and compatibility with endothelial cells. Factors affecting vascular endothelial cell injury include difference in the same class of drugs, concentration and exposure time of precipitant, and infusion strategy.

Conclusion

Phlebitis is accompanied by endothelial dysfunction and may involve multiple molecular and cellular mechanisms. These findings improve our understanding of the molecular targets of interventions and help identify effective candidates for the prophylaxis and treatment of phlebitis. Vascular health and risk management should be considered when initiating intravenous administration.

The effect of a low-color-temperature-based yellow light source on the prevention of phlebitis induced by chemotherapy

In recent years, light therapy has been gradually applied to the treatment of inflammation. Different from conventional high-color-temperature light sources, low-color-temperature yellow light (1900 K) without a blue light spectrum was selected as the light source to research its preventive effects on chemotherapy-induced phlebitis in this study. Based on a series of inflammatory characterization experiments, the results manifested that the reasonable utilization of 1900 K yellow light had a good effect on the prevention of phlebitis. This study shows that this is a feasible and promising method for preventing phlebitis and relieving pain, while providing a theoretical basis for the further investigation of the anti-inflammatory effects on phlebitis.

Comparing incidences of infusion site reactions between brand-name and generic vinorelbine in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

AIM

This study aimed to compare the incidence of infusion site reactions (ISRs) induced by intravenous administration of brand-name and generic vinorelbine (VNR) for treating non-small cell lung cancer.

METHOD

This single-centre retrospective cohort study was conducted by medical chart review of VNR infusions. ISRs were defined as symptoms around the infusion site, including pain, redness and swelling. ISRs requiring treatment were defined as ISRs requiring treatments including steroid ointments, vein repuncture and local steroid injections.

RESULTS

In all, 1973 VNR infusions were administered to 340 patients (brand-name 141 patients, generic 199 patients). ISRs and ISRs requiring treatment were observed in 161 and 100 patients, respectively. The ISR incidence per patient and per injection was significantly higher in generic VNR-treated patients than in brand-name VNR-treated patients (53.3% vs 39.0%, P = 0.0112 and 15.0% vs 9.9%, P = 0.0008, respectively). The frequency of ISRs requiring treatment was also significantly higher in the generic group (per patient 36.7% vs 19.2%, P = 0.0005; per injection 11.3% vs 5.5%, P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that generic VNR was significantly associated with an increased risk of ISRs (per patient adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.775, P = 0.0155; per injection AOR 1.672, P = 0.004) and ISRs requiring treatment (per patient AOR 2.422, P = 0.0012; per injection AOR 2.286, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Intravenous infusion of generic VNR was associated with an increased risk of ISRs. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism underlying the increased incidence of ISRs with generic VNR.

Vinorelbine's anti-tumor actions may depend on the mitotic apoptosis, autophagy and inflammation: hypotheses with implications for chemo-immunotherapy of advanced cancers and pediatric gliomas

Vinorelbine is a very potent chemotherapeutic agent which is used to treat a number of cancers including breast and non-small cell lung tumors. Vinorelbine mainly acts via blocking microtubules and induces a specific type of cell death called 'mitotic catastrophe/apoptosis' subsequent to mitotic slippage, which is the failure of cells to stay in a mitotic arrested state and replicating their DNA without cytokinesis. Glial tumor cells are especially sensitive to mitotic slippage. In recent years, vinorelbine demonstrated potency in pediatric optic and pontine gliomas. In this manuscript, we propose that vinorelbine's anti-tumor actions involve mitotic apoptosis, autophagy and inflammation. Intravenous infusion of vinorelbine induces a peculiar severe pain in the tumor site and patients with highly vascularized, oedematous and necrotic tumors are particularly vulnerable to this pain. Severe pain is a sign of robust inflammation and anti-inflammatory agents are used in treatment of this side effect. However, no one has questioned whether inflammation contributes to anti-tumor effects of vinorelbine, despite the existing data that vinorelbine induces Toll-Like Receptor-4 (TLR4), cytokines and cell death in endothelial cells especially under hypoxia. Robust inflammation may contribute to tumor necrosis such as seen during immunotherapy with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Evidence also emerges that enhanced cyclooxygenase activity may increase cancer cell death in certain contexts. There are data indicating that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could block anti-tumor efficacy of taxanes, which also work mainly via anti-microtubule actions. Further, combining vinorelbine with immunostimulant cytokines provided encouraging results in far advanced melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, which are highly antigenic tumors. Vinorelbine also showed potential in treatment of inflammatory breast cancer. Finally, pontine gliomas - where partial activity of vinorelbine is shown by some studies - are also tumors which partially respond to immune stimulation. Animal experiments shall be conducted whether TLR4-activating molecules or immune-checkpoint inhibitors could augment anti-tumor actions of vinorelbine. Noteworthy, TLR4-activation seems as the most promising way of cancer immunotherapy, as a high percentage of molecules which demonstrated clinical benefits in cancer treatment are activators of TLR4, including BCG vaccine, monophosphoryl lipid A and picibanil (OKT-432). The provided data would be meaningful for the oncological practice.