Menashe Bar-Eli — Page 3

PubMed2002

Inhibition of platelet-derived growth factor-mediated proliferation of osteosarcoma cells by the novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor STI571.

PURPOSE: Osteosarcoma is an aggressive primary bone cancer characterized by expression of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and its cognate receptor. Coexpression of the growth factor and receptor suggests their role in autocrine or paracrine growth mechanisms. It has been reported previously that STI571 has specific activity in inhibiting select tyrosine kinase receptors, including PDGF and c-Kit. Osteosarcomas express low levels of c-Kit but abundant levels of PDGF receptor (PDGFR). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To investigate the potential of STI571 as therapy for osteosarcoma, we studied its effects on PDGF-mediated cell growth in vitro and in an in vivo mouse model. RESULTS: PDGF acted as a potent mitogen in a dose-dependent manner in two osteosarcoma cell lines. STI571 (1.0 micro M) inhibited both PDGFR-alpha and PDGFR-beta phosphorylation and the downstream phosphorylation targets extracellular signal-regulated kinase and Akt. STI571 also inhibited PDGF-mediated growth and induced apoptosis in vitro as determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling staining. To study the effect of STI571 alone or in combination with Taxol in an in vivo model, an osteosarcoma cell line (KRIB) was transplanted into the tibia of athymic nude mice. Mice were treated with STI571 (50 mg/kg p.o. q M-F), Taxol (8 mg/kg i.p. weekly), or STI571 plus Taxol for 6 weeks. There was no significant difference in tumor size between treatment and control mice. Aberrant signaling pathways downstream of the PDGFR in the v-Ki-ras oncogene-transformed KRIB cell line may in part explain this finding. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that STI571 inhibits PDGF-mediated growth and leads to apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells in vitro by selective inhibition of the PDGFR tyrosine kinase. The effectiveness of STI571 in our studies suggests targeting of PDGFRs as a novel treatment for osteosarcoma.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Cellular adhesion pathways and metastatic potential of human melanoma.

Cellular adhesion molecules of the cadherin, integrin, and immunoglobulin superfamilies are important to both growth and metastasis of many cancers, including malignant melanoma. Malignant melanoma is an excellent model for studying these molecules, due in part to a sequential series of five defineable stages. As the malignant phenotype of melanoma cells changes from the noninvasive radial growth phase to the vertical growth phase, which has high metastatic potential, so does the repertoire of the cellular adhesion molecules expressed on the cells surface. The cellular adhesion molecule MCAM/MUC18 confers metastatic potential and increased tumorigenicity to melanoma cells. MCAM/MUC18 mediates homotypic and heterotypic adhesion between melanoma cells and endothelial cells, respectively. Both types of interaction may promote metastasis at different stages in the metastasis cascade. We developed a fully humanized antibody to MCAM/MUC18 (ABX-MA1) that blocked melanoma metastasis in vivo. Furthermore, ABX-MA1 blocked the homotypic interaction between melanoma cells and endothelial cells as well as the promoter and collagenase activity of MMP-2. During melanoma progression the loss of E-cadherin expression disrupts normal homeostasis in the skin by freeing melanoma cells from structural and functional regulation by keratinocytes. The loss of functional E-cadherin is parallelled by a gain in N-cadherin function that mediates homotypic interaction between melanoma cells, facilitates gap-junctional formation with fibroblasts and endothelial cells and promotes melanoma cell migration and survival. In addition, loss of E-cadherin may affect the beta-catenin/wnt signaling pathways, resulting in deregulation of genes involved in growth and metastasis. The integrin family member alpha(v)beta(3) is widely expressed on melanoma cells in the vertical growth phase. When alpha(v)beta(3) is expressed in melanoma cells in the radial growth phase, this integrin is associated with increased tumor growth in vivo. alpha(v)beta(3) may also promote melanoma invasion, through an interaction with MMP-2, and transendothelial migration, via a heterotypic melanomaendothelial cell interaction. This review summarizes recent knowledge on how changes in these adhesion molecules contribute to the acquisition of the metastatic phenotype in human melanoma.

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