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Abstract. Recent studies have indicated that targeting glutathione-S-transferase (GST) isoenzymes may be a promising novel strategy to improve the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy in the three most common musculoskeletal tumours: osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma. By using a panel of 15 drug-sensitive and drug-resistant human osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines, the efficay of the GST-targeting agent 6-(7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-ylthio)hexanol (NBDHEX) has been assessed and related to GST isoenzymes expression (namely GSTP1, GSTA1, GSTM1, and MGST). NBDHEX showed a relevant in vitro activity on all cell lines, including the drug-resistant ones and those with higher GSTs levels. The in vitro activity of NBDHEX was mostly related to cytostatic effects, with a less evident apoptotic induction. NBDHEX positively interacted with doxorubicin, vincristine, cisplatin but showed antagonistic effects with methotrexate. In vivo studies confirmed the cytostatic efficay of NBDHEX and its positive interaction with vincristine in Ewing's sarcoma cells, and also indicated a positive effect against the metastatisation of osteosarcoma cells. The whole body of evidence found in this study indicated that targeting GSTs in osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma may be an interesting new therapeutic option, which can be considered for patients who are scarcely responsive to conventional regimens.

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Transgenic mice carrying the HER‐2/neu proto‐oncogene under tissue‐specific transcriptional control of a mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat (Tg‐MMTVneu mice) spontaneously develop mammary carcinomas. HER‐2/neu is a tumor antigen that can be recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes if tumor cells present the appropriate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I glycoproteins. The purpose of this work was to assess whether mammary carcinomas arising in Tg‐MMTVneu mice correctly expressed MHC (H‐2q) class I gene products. We analyzed by flow cytometry 51 primary tumors from 19 transgenic mice. About one‐half of the tumors showed a reduced expression of class I antigens. All tumors were highly positive for membrane neu. Some mice had multiple mammary carcinomas with widely different MHC expression levels, and most mice had at least one tumor with a low expression. Treatment with γ‐interferon of carcinoma cells cultured in vitro induced a strong re‐expression of H‐2q antigens. Our results suggest that the immune response activated in vivo by HER‐2/neu‐positive tumors can lead to the emergence of escape variants characterized by a down‐regulation of MHC class I products. Int. J. Cancer 77:937–941, 1998.© 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.