Pancreatic tumors are resistant to conventional chemotherapies. The present study was aimed at evaluating the potential of a novel plant-derived product as a therapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer (PC). The effects of an extract from the tropical tree Annona Muricata, commonly known as Graviola, was evaluated for cytotoxicity, cell metabolism, cancer-associated protein/gene expression, tumorigenicity, and metastatic properties of PC cells. Our experiments revealed that Graviola induced necrosis of PC cells by inhibiting cellular metabolism. The expression of molecules related to hypoxia and glycolysis in PC cells (i.e. HIF-1α, NF-κB, GLUT1, GLUT4, HKII, and LDHA) were downregulated in the presence of the extract. In vitro functional assays further confirmed the inhibition of tumorigenic properties of PC cells. Overall, the compounds that are naturally present in a Graviola extract inhibited multiple signaling pathways that regulate metabolism, cell cycle, survival, and metastatic properties in PC cells. Collectively, alterations in these parameters led to a decrease in tumorigenicity and metastasis of orthotopically implanted pancreatic tumors, indicating promising characteristics of the natural product against this lethal disease.

Although the blockade of the hedgehog cascade by using cyclopamine has been reported to inhibit the growth of some cancer cell types, few studies on the mechanism by which this drug alone or in combination with other cytotoxic agents induces its cytotoxic effect have been reported. In our study, we evaluate, for the first time, the antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects induced by a combination of selective SMO inhibitor, cyclopamine and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, gefitinib on metastatic prostate cancer (PC) cells. The results revealed that cyclopamine, alone or at a lower concentration in combination with gefitinib, inhibited the growth of sonic hedgehog-(SHH), epidermal growth factor-(EGF) and serum-stimulated androgensensitive LNCaP-C33 and LNCaP-LN3 and androgen-independent LNCaP-C81, DU145 and PC3 cells. The antiproliferative effect of cyclopamine and gefitinib, alone or in combination, was mediated via a blockade of the PC3 cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Importantly, the combined cyclopamine and gefitinib also caused a higher rate of apoptotic death of PC cells compared to single agents. The cytotoxic effect induced by these drugs in PC3 cells appears to be mediated at least, in part, via the mitochondrial pathway through the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane and the release of cytochrome c and reactive oxygen species into the cytosol. This was also accompanied by the activation of caspase cascades, PARP cleavage and DNA fragmentation. Additionally, the combined cyclopamine and gefitinib were more effective at suppressing the invasiveness of PC3 cells through matrigel in vitro as the drugs alone. These findings indicate that the simultaneous blockade of SHH-GLI-1 and EGF-EGFR signaling, which results in the growth arrest and massive rate of apoptotic cell death, represents a promising strategy for a more effective treatment of metastatic PC forms. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

In this study, we evaluated, for the first time, the antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects induced by a combination of a selective epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, gefitinib, with other chemotherapeutic drugs including estrogen receptor-beta (ER-b) antagonist (tamoxifen) and topoisomerase II inhibitor (etoposide) on some metastatic prostate cancer (PC) cell lines. Immunohistochemial analyses revealed that EGFR expression was enhanced in 38% of primary prostatic adenocarcinomas (Gleason scores 4-10) as compared to the corresponding normal tissues of the same prostate gland from 32 PC patients. The RT-PCR and Western blot data have also indicated the higher expression levels of EGFR and ER-b transcripts and proteins in metastatic LNCaP, DU145 and PC3 cells relative to nonmalignant normal prostate cells. Moreover, the results from MTT and FACS analyses revealed that the drugs, alone or in combination at lower concentrations, inhibited the growth of 17b-estradiol (E2) plus EGF and serum-stimulated androgen-responsive LNCaP-C33 and androgen-independent LNCaP-C81, DU145 and PC3 cells. Importantly, the combined gefitinib, tamoxifen and etoposide also caused a higher rate of apoptotic death of PC cells as compared to single agents. The cytotoxic effects induced by these drugs in PC3 cells appear to be mediated through the accumulation of cellular ceramide and activation of caspase cascades via a mitochondrial pathway. These findings indicate that the combined use of inhibitors of EGF-EGFR and E2-ER-b signaling with etoposide, which act by increasing the cellular ceramide levels and caspase activity, represents a promising strategy for a more effective treatment of metastatic PC forms. ' 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: prostate cancer; EGF-EGFR system; ER-b; growth inhibition; ceramide; apoptotic death Prostate cancer (PC) remains among the most frequently diagnosed solid tumors in men, and the metastatic PC forms still represent the second leading cause of cancer-related death.1,2 Although the treatment of PCs by radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy and antiandrogen therapy has a high curability rate in patients diagnosed with localized and androgen-dependent PCs, the progression to the hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) forms is associated with disease relapse and poor patient survival.1-5 This is principally due to the androgen-independence of PC cells that are able to grow and survive in the absence or presence of low androgen levels. 5,6 Although the current chemotherapeutic treatments for HRPC generally improve the quality of life of patients, they are palliative with a median survival rate of about 12 months after diagnosis. 4,5,7 In fact, the upregulated expression of numerous growth factors and their cognate receptors during the progression of localized PCs into advanced and metastatic disease states appears to be responsible in part to the development of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. 5,[8][9][10][11] More particularly, the overexpression of epidermal growth fact...

MUC4 is a membrane-bound mucin and is considered as the human homologue of the rat sialomucin complex (SMC). The deduced structural organization of the wild type-MUC4 cDNA (WT-MUC4) sequence revealed two subunits: a large amino mu-cin type subunit (MUC4α) and a transmembrane subunit (MUC4β). MUC4β is a membrane-bound growth factor like subunit and contains three EGF-like domains. The MUC4 gene is expressed in several normal tissues like trachea, lung, and testis. It is not expressed in a normal human pancreas; however, its dysregulation results in high levels of expression in pancreatic tumors and tumor cell lines. Recently, we have demonstrated the presence of alternative splice events in the 3′-end of the MUC4 cDNA that generated new putative variants (sv1-sv10) in normal human testis and in a pancreatic tumor cell line (HPAF). In search of MUC4 variant(s) that are specific to pancreatic adenocarcinoma, we investigated the splicing phenomena in the MUC4 cDNA sequence by using a large panel of pancreatic tumor cell lines. We have identified ten alternative splice events located downstream to the central large tandem repeat domain. These splice events generated 12 variant species (sv4, sv9, sv10-18, and sv21) of MUC4 cDNAs. The deduced amino acid sequence of these variant MUC4 cDNAs revealed two distinct types: a family of secreted and a membrane-associated variant form. Among the members of MUC4 secreted variant family, three (sv4, sv12, and sv13) of ten showed a short 144 residue COOH-terminus compared to 1154 84 Choudhury et al. residues in WT-MUC4. The variants with this short COOH-terminus (144 residues) was found in 37% (4/11) of the tumor lines. The putative membrane-bound variant sv10 was detected in 37% (4/11) pancreatic tumor cell lines but not in any normal human tissues. In conclusion, we have identified novel splice variant(s) of MUC4 in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Teratogenesis Carcinog. Mutagen. 21:83-96, 2001.

The results of this study demonstrate that the ITCB-DTPA conjugation and 177Lu-labeling of scFvs are feasible without influencing the antibody characteristics. 177Lu-labeled [sc(Fv)2]2 showed faster clearance and equivalent tumor uptake at 8 h compared with its IgG form, with a markedly reduced renal uptake in the presence of L-lysine. Therefore, 177Lu-labeled [sc(Fv)2]2 may be a potential radiopharmaceutical for the treatment of cancer.